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HISTORY 



OF THE 



FIRST ECCLESIASTICAL SOCIETY 



IN EAST WINDSOR, 



FROM ITS 



FORMATION IN 1752, TO THE DEATH OF ITS SECOND PASTOR, 



REV. SHUBAEL BARTLETT 



IN 1854. 



WITH A SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF REV. MR. BARTLETT, AND HIS 

FAREWELL DISCOURSE, PREPARED FOR THE FIFTIETH 

ANNIVERSARY OF HIS SETTLEMENT. 



HARTFORD 



PRESS OF CASE, TIFFANY AND CO. 
1857. 




■v 



f$> :,. " 



HISTORY 



FIRST ECCLESIASTICAL SOCIETY IN EAST WINDSOR. 



The sanctuary in wliicli to worship God, and the 
school-house in which the youthful mind is to receive 
the rudiments of education, have ever been the true 
insignia upon the standard of the Pilgrims, and 
wherever we find their descendants establishing a 
settlement we shall see amid the trees of the vast 
forest, or on the hill-top of the open country, the 
spire of the meeting-house pointing up to the eternal 
dwelling-place above, and its humble attendant nest- 
ling in some bye corner or near the highway path. 
They have never been noted for the beauty of their 
architecture nor for the pleasantness of their loca- 
tion, and have long been the jest of the heartless 
writer and the ignorant traveler, but to those who 
can sympathise in the true dignity and happiness of 
man, and can understand his dependence upon a 
pure heart and an understanding mind, there is a 
beauty in their tasteless architecture and a grandeur 
in their unpretending simplicity. To the native of 



New England however, they have charms that touch 
the tenderest chords of his heart. They are the 
near associates of that loved spot where his youth 
was matured. They are part of the " home of his 
childhood," and wherever else may be his residence 
in after years, that home with all its hallowed 
associations will still keep a clasp upon his heart and 
maintain its moral sway. 

Many have already gone out from us, and are con- 
tending on the battle-field of life over the broad area 
of our country, and others are preparing to go. To 
such this unpretending narrative will contain sub- 
jects of deep interest. May its perusal bring up 
wholesome thoughts of past days, and recall those 
lessons from the Word of God which you once lis- 
tened to in our old Scantic meeting-house. 

The rapidity with which towns spring into exist- 
ence at the present day forms a striking contrast to 
their progress one hundred years ago, and the pres- 
ent generation would have but an imperfect idea of 
the struggles and hardships endured by their ances- 
tors should they judge them by what their eyes now 
witness of the process by which churches are founded 
and societies collected for their maintenance. Es- 
pecially would this be the case in reference to the 
parish of which this record pretends to be a memo- 
rial. 

Only those whose memories can reach back to the 
latter part of the last century can realize the im~ 
mense strides which our whole country has made in 
the progress of social power, and it is only by recall- 
ing from the page of history events which to us now 



appear almost fabulous recitals, but wliicli only date 
back from the middle of the last century, that we 
can bring home to our perception the fact of the 
mighty development of wealth, and refinement, and 
social comfort. 

In the year 1754 we were a part of the vast British 
empire. We acknowledged allegiance to a sovereign 
across the sea, and humbly prayed His Majesty for 
every privilege we needed, and willingly yielded our 
purses to his 'call, and fought under his standard 
against his enemies. 

The native Indians were then in the very heart of 
our country. They encircled within their hunting- 
grounds the finest and most fertile portions of it, 
and their numbers were so many and their power so 
significant that they were alike feared and courted 
by the opposing forces of the civilized armies which 
in that day made our fair land the field of warfare. 

In 1754, Washington was a young man just emerg- 
ing into notice, an officer under the king, traversing 
with dauntless courage the wilds of the West, and 
training himself unconsciously for the splendid posi- 
tion he was in maturer years to occupy in our strug- 
gle for liberty and right. 

Seventeen hundred and fifty-four was the epoch 
of Braddock's defeat. In 1757 occurred the re- 
markable massacre by the French and Indians at 
Fort William Henry. In 1759 the immortal Wolfe 
fell at the storming of Quebec, and that fortress, 
with the vast possessions of the French in the north- 
ern portion of America, fell into the hands of the 
British. 



6 

In 1765 the memorable Stamp Act was passed^ 
and received the royal signature, and the first spark 
of that fire which finally kindled the blaze of the 
Kevokition, was struck out, and the lion aroused in 
the hitherto passive breasts of our sires. 

Six years after the incorporation of the town of 
East Windsor, at a meeting of the inhabitants con- 
vened on the first Monday of August, 1774, to delib- 
erate on the dangerous situation of the liberties of 
the American colonies and the distressed condition 
of the town of Boston, Erastus Wolcott, Esq., was 
chosen moderator, and after the subject was largely 
discussed, the following resolution was unanimously 
passed : 

" That the measures which the British crown and 
parliament of late years have thought proper to 
adopt in relation to the colonies of America, in the 
opinion of this town, wear a very threatening aspect 
to their liberties and tranquility, and deserve the 
most serious attention. 

The Act for raising a revenue, for His Majesty, in 
America, to defray the expense of the administration 
of justice, and the support of civil government, and 
the defense of His Majesty's dominions in America, 
was made not only on principles subversive of the 
darling privilege of the English constitution, in 
taking away the property of the subject without his 
consent, but also with the further view to place it in 
the power of the crown to support a government in 
America independent on the people, and His Majesty 
undertaking to increase and pay the salaries of some 
of the American officers, who appeared most forward 
to favor the views of the crown, out of his American 
revenue, that used to be done by the people without 
any expense to the crown, affords ample proof of 



such a design, and that the court and government 
of Great Britaui design to have the government of 
the colonies entirely in their own hands. The situ- 
tion of our affairs is truly distressing, but in the 
opinion of this town it ill becomes the offspring of 
those that have done and suffered so much in the 
cause of liberty to give up the most valuable bless- 
ings of life ; but we ought to exert ourselves with 
great firmness, union, and resolution, to avoid the 
oppression that threatens us. We ought, 

1st. In the first place most devovitly to look to 
Him, whose throne is in the heavens, for help and 
deliverance. 

2d. That in the management of this unhappy 
controversy we ought to treat His Majesty, our 
rightful sovereign and his parliament, with a be- 
coming conduct and expressions of loyalty and re- 
spect. 

3d. We entirely approve of, and very much re- 
joice, that there appears to be such unanimity of 
sentiment in the colonies. 

4th. That we judge it of the greatest importance 
that the several provinces, cities, towns, and each 
inhabitant thereof, lay aside all party and selfish 
views, and firmly abide by the decisions of our del- 
egates about to assemble in Congress. 

5th. In the opinion of this town every man that 
from lucrative motives, prejudice, or other mean 
and narrow views, shall counteract these measures, 
ought to be looked upon as a traitor to his country, 
and treated not with violence on his person, but 
with neglect and all the proper marks of disesteem 
which such a character deserves, and be made sen- 
sible of his ill conduct by denying the benefits of 
society, of commerce, and the common advantages 
of civilized life. 

6tli. That we look upon it to be our duty ten- 
derly to sympathize with and liberally to contribute 



8 

to the relief of such as or shall be reduced to waut 
in this struggle for liberty, and to do all in our 
power to encourage and strengthen those that ap- 
pear for the support of it ; and the inhabitants of 
this town do hereby agree, resolve, and engage, to 
conduct themselves in this important crisis of affairs, 
agreeable to the sentiments and duties set forth in 
the above-mentioned particulars. And that 

William Wolcott, Erastus Wolcott, Charles Ells- 
worth, Jr., Esq., Captain Ebenezer Grant, Benoni 
Olcott, Lemuel Stoughton, Daniel Ellsworth, Jr., 
Edward Chapman Grant, be a committee to keep a 
correspondence with the towns of this and the neigh- 
boring colonies, and to promote and forward such 
contributions that shall be made in this town for the 
relief of the poor in Boston under their present 
distress." 

How far off, almost in fairy land, do our minds 
now place these events and the state of society which 
this record brings back, and yet all these occurred 
since the formation of our ecclesiastical society in 
1752. The physical aspect of the parish then had 
not much to recommend it, almost a continuous 
forest spread over its eastern section, with only a 
few cleared spots where settlers had felled the trees 
and were cultivating the openings which their own 
hands had made. The beautiful undulations of its 
surface, the rolling hills, and winding streams, and 
rich meadows, which now please the eye and afford 
a picturesque home-view to almost every location 
throughout its whole area, were then hidden be" 
neatli the spreading arms of the giant oaks. 

As early as 1736, settlers began to select favorable 
spots for location amid the forests — some choosing 



their position where the land was favorable for grain, 
some where the large pines afforded means for the 
manufacture of tar, and others amid marshy places 
where the grass grew rank, for the purpose of gath- 
ering hay to winter stock, the sowing of grass-seed 
being an improvement in agriculture not then known 
to them. 

From all that can be now learned of the charac- 
ters of those who first settled the north parish of 
East Windsor, we must judge them to have been 
men of strong resolution, untiring industry, and of 
religious habits. They were men who did not fear 
the wilderness, who could stand with their axes 
amid the vast forest and fell tree by tree to make a 
clearing where the grain was to be raised for their 
sustenance, and the habitations to be erected in 
which they and their children were to dwell. They 
were not mere speculators, who sought to make the 
most out of the land they occupied in the shortest 
possible time, and then to remove and try their luck 
upon some other uncultivated spot ; but they seem 
to have settled with a design to make a life-stay of 
it, contenting themselves with a bare living for the 
first few years, and enlarging their incomes as they 
extended their clearhigs and brought more land into 
a state of cultivation. The houses which they 
erected were not log-houses such as have formed 
the first houses of settlers in the far west, but they 
were frame buildings of small size, made comforta- 
ble without any pretension to ornament. Many of 
the original settlers purchased large tracts of land, 
which have sufficed even to the present day for 



10 

division among their descendants, so that in very 
many locations among ns the present owners can sit 
beneath the shadow of the trees that sheltered their 
forefathers, and cultivate the soil where their great- 
great-grandfathers labored . 

This one fact tells its own story to our hearts, and 
should be treasured by those who enjoy the privilege 
as a distinguishing characteristic. In a country 
where land can not be entailed, and the possessions 
which the fathers obtained by industry and skill can 
be scattered by the prodigality of the children, sur- 
rounded too by influences that strongly tend to em- 
igration in quest of easier fortunes, it should be a 
matter for honest pride to many a family among us 
that the inheritance they now call their own has 
been the home of their fathers and their father's 
fathers, and almost every spot of it hallowed by asso- 
ciations with the loved and honored dead. Such 
land may have its nominal value on the assessor's 
books, but we doubt very much whether its owners 
ever calculated what its real value in dollars and 
cents might possibly be, for in their hearts they have 
entailed it to their children and their children's chil- 
dren, and may it thus descend for long, long time 
to come, an heirdom that reminds each succeeding 
possessor, of prudence, and industry, and steady 
habits, and a stimulus to the practice of the virtues 
which have preserved for them a permanent home ; 
and however lightly in this day of change and bustle 
many may esteem the spot of earth where they and 
their fathers have been reared, and rejoice in the 
fact that they feel no local ties and hold themselves 



11 

as citizens of the world at large, and are ready to 
plant themselves wherever the prospect of gain pre- 
sents the most alluring offer — there is still a virtue 
and a rich reward in the cultivation of that filial 
piety that clings to the home of our childhood and 
the land of our birth. 

It is difficult at this distant day to ascertain ex- 
actly the religious character of the first settlers here, 
but from the best information which can be obtained, 
they were a church-going people, for we learn that 
they were in the habit of attending regularly those 
places of worship nearest to their different locations. 
Those who lived in the north visited the old church 
in Enfield, and those who settled in the middle and 
southern portions of the parish, attended the church 
of Dr. Edwards, situated near the old burying 
ground at East Windsor Hill, now within the bounds 
of South Windsor. This church has long been 
taken away, but the grave-yard still retains the 
remains of many of the fathers and mothers of our 
parish. Sabbath after Sabbath they traversed the 
foot-paths through the woods to that place of wor- 
ship, and in death they were carried through the 
same paths for many miles on the shoulders of neigh- 
bors and acquaintances to the depository of the 
dead near the house of God.* 

* One of our oldest inhabitants remembers that at the death of a 
young lady, whose relatives had been buried in the old cemetry on 
East Windsor Hill, the corpse was carried from the house he now 
occupies in Ireland street, upon the shoulders of tlie bearers to the 
place of interment, a distance of seven miles ; several sets of bear- 
ers relievino; each other. 



12 

The first record we have of the present first 
society in East Windsor, is dated 25tli day of June^ 
1752. A meeting legally warned convened on that 
day at the house of Mr. John Prior. Captain John 
Ellsworth was chosen moderator, and the following 
votes were passed : 

" Voted, That Captain John Ellsworth, David Skin- 
ner and Joseph Harper, be society's committee. 

Voted, By more than two-thirds of the inhabitants 
of the north society, entitled by law to vote, to build 
a meeting-house in and for said society. 

Voted, That they would apply themselves to the 
county court, to see where the meeting house should 
be. 

Voted, That Samuel Watson, an inhabitant of 
said society, be the agent for said society to apply 
to the county court for a committee to affix a place 
where the meeting-house shall be." 

October 30th, 1752, at an adjourned meeting of 
the society, the following resolution passed : 

" Voted, That they would raise five hundred pounds, 
old tenor currency, for the building of a meeting- 
house, to be put into the hands of the committee for 
that purpose." 

The county court, according to request, appointed 
a committee", and said committee made report, but 
it appears not to have been satisfactory, for on the 
10th of Dec, 1752, at a meeting then held, in which 
Captain John Ellsworth was moderator, and Ammi 
Trumbull clerk, we find the following resolution 
passed by a vote of ten majority : 

" Voted, That they would apply to the county court 
to laying objections against the report of second com- 
mittee of said court ordered by said court to affix a 



13 

place for a meeting-liousc, and to apply to said 
court for another committee — and that Erastus Wol- 
cott be employed to find the center of society, and 
to make a new place if necessary. 

Fo^efZ, -That Benjamin Osborn be an agent for 
said society in laying their objections before the 
county court." 

During the delay necessary to fix upon a suitable 
spot for the erection of their place of worship, the 
inhabitants of the parish were not willing to be 
without the preaching of the gospel within the 
bounds allotted to them, and we find the following 
resolution on record : 

" At a meeting of the north society in Windsor, le- 
gally warned, voted Captain John Ellsworth mod- 
erator. 

Voted, To raise one hundred pounds, old tenor 
money, to hire preaching at Mr. John Prior's. 

Voted, That one-quarter of said hundred pounds, 
should be spent in preaching at Mr. Nathaniel Ells- 
worth's. 

Voted, That Benjamin Osborn should go to hire 
a minister to preach to said society." 

At the expiration of a year from the time of their 
first meeting for the purpose of erecting a house of 
worship, the difficulties attending the setting a stake 
at the place where it should be located were sur- 
mounted, and on the 22d of June, 1753, we find 
the following vote : 

" Voted, That a person be appointed to go to the 
county court, now sitting at Hartford, to get the 
place where the last committee set the last stake, as 

9. 



14 

a place for a meeting-house to be recorded.* And 
that Joseph Harper be their agent for that purpose." 

At the same meeting it was also 

" Voted, That Mr. Caleb Booth should go for Mr. 
Pot wine to preach." 

In August we find the following important res- 
olutions : 

" Aug. 20th, 1753. At a meeting of the north 
society in Windsor, legally assembled, Captain John 
Ellsworth being moderator, 

Voted, To give Mr. Thomas Potwine, of Coventry, 
a call to preach with us on probation, in order to 
settle with us, with the advice of the association. 

Voted, To build a meeting-house, the same 
length and breadth as the meeting-house in the 
second society, and twenty-one feet high between 
joints. 

Voted, Jonathan Bartlett, Samuel Allyn, and 
Ammi Trumbull, be a committee to employ men 
to get timber for said building." 

After a trial of two months it was decided that 
Mr. Potwine should be called as their pastor. The 

* The following record was made at the June term of the county 
court, 1753. 

" We, the subscribers, being appointed in November last, a com- 
mittee to repair to the north society in Windsor, view their circum- 
stances, hear all persons concerned, and affix and ascertain a place, 
in our opinion, most suitable and commendable whereon "to build a 
meeting-house for divine worship in said society, having reported to 
said court in January last, the said society having applied to us to re- 
view and further consider their case, did, on the 6th day of May, 
inst., repair to said society and review their circumstances and hear 
all persons concerned, and having advantage of a new plan of said 
society which gave a different representation from that which we be- 
fore used, in reconsideration, have, in the presence of a large number 



15 

meeting for that purpose was held on the 22d Oct., 
1853, and Joseph Harper was moderator of the 
meeting. 

" Voted, To give Sir Thomas Potwine a call to set- 
tle with lis in the work of the ministry. 

Voted, To give Sir Thomas Potwine, of Coventry, 
two thousand pounds in money, old tenor, as it now 
passes, as a settlement. 

Voted, To give Sir Thomas Potwine five hundred 
pounds for his yearly salary. Equal to grain, wheat 
at forty shillings per bushel, rye at thirty shillings 
per bushel, and Indian corn at twenty shillings per 
bushel, old tenor, and to add to it as our lists rise 
until it amounts to six hundred poimds old tenor 
money. 

Voted, That Joseph Harper and Mr. David Skin- 
ner be a committee to treat with Sir Thomas Pot- 
wine about settling with us. 

Voted, To alter the shape of the meeting-house, 
that it should be forty-seven feet in length, thirty- 
five in breadth, and twenty-one in height between 
joints. 

Voted, That Ebenezer Bliss go to Lieutenant 
Watson and Daniel Clark, in the name of the 
society, to purchase of them and take a deed for the 
same, of one and a half acres of land." 

of the inhabitants of said society, set down a stake in the lot of 
Lieutenant Samuel Watson, about 36 rods near south from the new 
dwelling-house of Mr. Daniel Clark in said society, and are now of 
opinion that the place where we have now set the stake is the most 
suitable place whereon to build a new house for divine worship for 
said society, and will accommodate the inhabitants thereof. 
NATHANIEL OLCOTT, ^ 
ZEBULON WEST, [ CommiUee. 

STEPHEN CONE, ) 

June term, 1753. 



16 

This was designed for the spot on which the 
church should be erected and where the stake had 
been placed. 

Our forefathers had doubtless more correct ideas 
of the true relation in which a pastor and his people 
stand to each other than many societies of the pres- 
ent day, and the record which now follows ought to 
be engraven on the hearts of all ecclesiastical socie- 
ties, and should be a ruling principle in all their 
agreements for the support of the ministry. The 
reason which called for the resolution is not given, 
but the fact of its having been placed upon their 
records goes far to illustrate their character as men 
and Christians. 

"At a meeting of the north society legally assem- 
bled on the first day of February, 1754, 

Voted. That if what we have already voted for 
Sir Thomas Potwine's salary should be insufficient 
for his support, that we will add to his salary as his 
circumstances call for and our abilities will admit of.^"* 

In 1758 a new agreement was entered into between 
the Rev. Mr. Po twine and his people, in which, at his 
request, the sum to be paid to him annually was to 
be sixty pounds so long as he should continue their 
minister. He had also the use of the glebe land, or 
minister's lot, and a yearly provision of wood. As 
this seems to have been an arrangement satisfactory 
to both parties, we may conclude that the sum, small 
as it appears to us, was sufficient in that primitive 
period of our country, for its purpose. 

We find, however, much to the credit of the so- 
ciety, when, at a subsequent period, in consequence 



17 

of the high price of the necessaries of life during the 
terrible years when our young nation was in the 
deadly struggle for her independence — upon an ap- 
plication by Mr. Potwine for assistance, we find the 
following record : 

" 27th Dec, 1799. Voted, To raise fourteen hun- 
dred and forty pounds money to be paid to the Rev. 
Thomas Potwine, in addition to his stated salary the 
current year, on account of the high price of the 
necessaries of life." 

What was the actual value of the amount desig- 
nated as fourteen hundred and forty pounds is not 
now easily determined, but as they also raised one 
hundred and eighty-eight pounds for the purchase of 
his wood for that year, which had usually cost five 
pounds, we can suppose it to have amounted to forty 
pounds — an addition to his regular salary of two- 
thirds. 

There is also an excellent testimony borne for the 
society by its records in the promptness with which 
the salary to their minister was paid. Regularly as 
the year came round his receipt is attested as in full 
for the amount agreed upon. 

The following rules of church discipline were de- 
fined for settlement of Mr. Potwine at a meeting of 
the society on the first April, 1754 : 

" Voted, To settle Sir Thomas Potwine in the fol- 
lowing manner, viz. : 

1st. The Word of God is the only infallible rule 
of church discipline. 

2d. That the church will have a manual vote in 
this house. 

3d. That whenever we shall have occasion to 

9* 



18 

send a messenger, that we will choose him by 
proxy. 

4th. That whenever we shall have occasion for a 
council, that the church shall choose them. 

5th. We do agree to leave the examination of 
' those who desire to join in full communion with the 
minister. 

6th. We do agree that those who have a desire to 
join in full communion have liberty to make relation 
of their experience in the church and congregation, 
upon their admission to the church." 

Mr. Potwine, having accepted the terms offered 
him as a settlement, it was concluded that on the 
1st day of May, 1754, he should be solemnly or_ 
dained as their pastor. 

.And the following votes were passed at the meet- 
ing held on the 1st April preceding : 

" Voted, To ordain Sir Thomas Potwine at Lieu- 
tenant Samuel Watson's. 

Voted, That Captain John Ellsworth proceed for 
the ministers that shall ordain Sir Thomas Potwine, 
and the rest of the ministers that shall come to or- 
dination, and the messengers. 

Voted, That Caleb Booth, Ezekiel Osborn, Jona- 
than Bartlett, Samuel Watson, David Skinner, John 
Gaylord, Ebenezer Bliss, Benjamin Osborn, and 
Ammi Trumbull, provide for people that come to 
ordination." 

No building had as yet been erected for public 
worship, but the people, anxious to have the minis- 
tration of the ordinances and a servant of God as 
their leader and teacher, procured the use of a pri- 
vate house for that purpose, and the one most appro- 
priate then on account of its size and capacity for 
accommodating a number of people was that which 



19 

is now in possession of Mr. Joel Prior, situated in 
Main street. The ordination of Mr. Potwine was 
celebrated under the roof of a barn then newly 
erected and never as yet used. Of course none are 
now living who witnessed that scene, but the account 
of it the writer has received from an old lady, who 
very distinctly remembers what her mother told her 
about it, who was present and with her babe in her 
arms. The ceremony was performed upon the barn 
floor. A table answered for a desk, and benches 
made of rough boards, with a few chairs for the more 
distinguished ministers, were their seats. Boards 
were laid across the bays as standing places for the 
women and older people, while upon the beams 
above perched the younger and most elastic. This 
barn is still standing. 

It would be gratifying to be able to give some 
particulars of the ministry of Mr. Potwine, but un- 
fortunately no records have been preserved that can 
throw light upon it ; nothing pertaining to church 
matters can be known except from tradition. How 
many were added through his long ministry can 
only be known now when the last great account 
shall be made up. 

In about one year after his ordination, the house 
for worship was completed,* and the congregation 

* The house of worship was not probably in a finished state when 
first occupied, for we find on record the following resolutions in 
reference to it : 

"Dec. 18th, 1759, voted that Joseph Allyn, Johnathan Bartlett> 
and Ammi Trumbull, be a committee for finishing the lower part 
of the meetino'-house. 



20 

joyfully assembled together for the purpose of con- 
secrating it as a holy place where they could meet 
to sing the praises of Jehovah, to bow together in 
prayer before him, and to sit beneath the droppings 
of the sanctuary, and listen to the teachings of His 
servant from the holy scriptures. 

It was erected as nearly at the center of the par- 
ish as could be agreed upon, although in the opinion 
of many, who lived on what was called the river 
road, " too far in the woods." The site chosen was 
the one occupied by the present place of worship. 
The building was after the fashion of many of that 
day, where the society was not large or wealthy. 
It was a plain, oblong building, of small size, as 
the dimensions already given testify, and without 
any steeple or ornament. A door opened from the 
east and south, and with its galleries could probably 
accommodate from two to three hundred persons. 
Not long after the erection of the church a small 
building was put up near the present site of the 

" Voted, That the lower part of the meeting-house be finished with 
pews." 

Again, at a meeting held 21st Dec., 1767, Deacon Lampson Wells 
being chosen moderator, and James Harper, John Thompson, and 
Lemuel Stoughton, society's committee — 

" Voted, To raise twelve pounds to glaze the meeting-house, to be 
paid in grain, viz : wheat at four shillings, rye at three shillings, and 
Indian corn at two shillings per bushel ; and the society's committee 
to take charge of the glazing." 

Again, at a meeting held 11th Dec, 1769 — 

" Voted, To raise eighty pounds to be expended in finishing the 
meeting-house, to be paid in grain, wheat at four shillings, rye at 
three shillings, and Indian corn at two shillings per bushel ; and 
Lemuel Stoughton, Johnathan Bartlctt, and Simeon Wolcott, to be 
a committee to lay out the money and see to the work." 



21 

dwelling-house of Samuel W. Bartlett,Esq.,for the ac- 
commodation of those who lived too far from the place 
of worship to be able to return to their homes during 
the interruption of public worship at noon, where 
they could take refreshment such as they had 
brought with them, or, if the winter season, have 
the benefit of a fire, and replenish their foot-stoves 
for the afternoon service, a warm meeting-house 
being in those days an interdicted luxury. This 
building also answered a very useful purpose for 
those females who might have no convenience for 
riding to church, and were of necessity often com- 
pelled to encounter sand and dust if the season was 
dry, or snow and mud at other times — a change of 
the nether garments was necessary, and here it 
could be effected. 

Going to church was in those days a matter of 
course. None staid at home but the very aged and 
the sick ; and they went in that way which happened 
to be most convenient, for the most part on horse- 
back.* The husband and the wife, the brother and 
sister, the lover and his lass, each pair on the same 
horse, and often a little one in the arms of the 
mother or father. One hundred horses have been 
counted thus passing in line along one of the most 



* Some of the roads were inconvenient even for that mode of con- 
veyance. At the top and bottom of the long hill which ascends from 
Mr. Osborn's mill to what is now called Prospect street, horse-blocks 
were erected at which the riders could dismount and mount — the hill 
was so steep and rugged they were obliged to lead their horses going 
up or down ; and some persons now living remember well seeing 
these blocks. 



22 

frequented roads, of those who had been attending 
the house of God. 

Weather did not then determine the numbers 
who should be in their seats in the Lord's house. 
The soaking rain and the driving storm of snow 
were matters of little account with the hardy ances- 
tors of this settlement, the men who with their own 
sturdy arms had made a clearing for their families 
amid the forest, and the women who with their own 
hands wove the garments in which their husbands 
and themselves were clad, were not the persons to 
look either to the heavens above or the earth be- 
neath to ascertain whether it would do to " venture 
out to-day." Moreover, going to church was con- 
sidered an indispensable duty, none turned their 
backs upon the house of God, and it was no uncom- 
mon thing for neighbors to question each other if 
for one or two Sabbaths any were absent from their 
place. Alas ! that the good habit should ever have 
been laid aside. 

With this practice continued, as the parish in- 
creased in numbers, we can readily understand how 
at the end of fifty years the house which had accom- 
modated the fathers became too small for their de- 
scendants. The seats could not contain the congre- 
gation, and the stairs which led into the galleries, 
as well as the outer steps at the doors, were often 
filled with those who could find no other resting- 
place. 

Whether the spiritual condition of the people may 
be judged by this crowding to the house of God, 
can not now be so clearly ascertained as we could' 



23 



wish. That there was a good degree of vital relig 
ion we may hope. Prayer-meetings Avere regularly 
kept up in different parts of the parish, and in these 
exercises the hands of the pastor were greatly 
strengthened by the energy and devotion of his 
venerable father who had removed to this town. 
He went from house to house and held meetings 
that were well attended, and was constant in his 
labors both in regular attendance through all 
weathers and in direct conversation with individ- 
uals. And so much was he esteemed for these 
labors of love, that the people of their own accord 
erected for him a small house in the center street 
of the parish, that he might have a permanent 
home among them. 

The first notice we have of any necessity for a 
new meeting-house is from the record of a meeting 
held the 19th day of Dec, 1796. The society was 
called together " for the purpose that the inhabit- 
ants of said society may show their minds respecting 
the necessity of building a new meeting-house, and 
to do any business lawful and proper to be done 
relating to the building of said house." 

But two votes were passed at this meeting ; one 
appointing James Chamberlin moderator, and the 
other to adjourn the meeting to the first Monday 
of March following, at 10 o'clock in the forenoon. 

At the meeting held in March, the question was 
put by the moderator — 

" Will you do anything respecting the building a 
new meeting-house in this society ? 
The society answered in the negative." 



24 

Five years elapsed before any move was again 
made in reference to erecting a new house or re- 
pairing and enlarging the old one. On the 21st 
day of April, 1801, a meeting was held of the sec- 
ond society in East Windsor, "legally holden at the 
meeting-house in said society. 

" Voted, Captain Hezekiah Bissell, moderator. 

Voted, To build an addition to the meeting- 
house in said society of about 21 feet in length, and 
the same height and breadth with the body of said 
house, on the north part of said house ; to build a 
new roof facing the opposite way from what the old 
one now stands ; to niove the pulpit to a proper 
place; to lill the new part with pews, excepting 
proper alleys ; to move any pews that it shall be 
necessary to move ; to plaster all parts of said 
house that shall be necessary ; to new cover the out- 
side of said house and paint it ; to underpin the 
said house decently with three tier of stone, includ- 
ing many of the old underpinning stone as can be 
used ; and to procure suitable step-stones ; all to be 
done within twenty months from this date. 

Voted, That Messrs. John Morton, Thomas l^ot- 
wine, Jr., and Stoddard Ellsworth, be a committee 
to carry the above vote into execution. 

Voted, To raise four cents on the dollar on the 
list of 1800, to enable said committee to carry into 
execution the above described building." 

Nothing had been done towards the accomplish- 
ment of the resolutions passed at the meeting in 
April, when the society again met in October of the 
same year, except collecting materials for the work ; 
nor is there a record of any motion having been 
made to rescind or alter the votes which had been 



25 

passed ; nor is any mention made in reference to the 
matter, except the following vote : 

" Voted, That the inhabitants of this society or 
any individuals be permitted to build a cupola or 
steeple to the meeting-house in this society, provided 
it be done entirely by subscription, and provided no 
tax be laid to defray the expense of the same." 

A difference of opinion is, however, known to 
hava arisen, and perhaps a little too much per- 
tinacity was manifested on each side ; the breach 
became seriously wider and wider, and the members 
on either side of the question were determined to 
stand by their expressed opinion. At the close of 
one of their meetings in which many hard words 
had been sent back and forth, and in which it had 
been decided by a majority of voters that an addi- 
tion should be made to their present house of wor- 
ship, it was very evident that the minority felt sorely 
grieved, and one of them was heard to express the 
opinion "that the addition would never be made." 
Whether it was spoken under prophetic inspiration 
or otherwise is of little consequence now. 

In the edge of evening of that same day, 5th 
Oct., 1801, the families living in the vicinity of the 
meeting-house were aroused by the cry of fire ! and 
to their dismay soon found that the sacred building 
which had been the subject of so much contention, 
and the innocent cause of much asperity of feeling, 
was involved in flames. The fire had originated 
upon the west end of the house, and when first 
discovered it is said might soon have been extin- 
guished ; but the efficient help at the right time 
3 



26 

was wanting, and the dry material soon fed the 
flame beyond the power of any means within reach 
to extinguish it, and in a few hours a heap of ashes 
and charred timbers alone remained of the place 
where for half a century the inhabitants of the second 
parish of East Windsor had worshiped. To some, 
doubtless, it was rather an agreeable sight than oth- 
erwise ; there could now be no patching or adding 
to be done ; a new house must be had to woi'ship 
in, or none at all ; but to very many it brought dis- 
may and sorrow of heart. The old building had 
been their "first love." It was associated with the 
memory of departed ones. It was their holy house. 
Sabbath after Sabbath they had gathered there from 
their earliest days ; there they had sung the praises 
of Jehovah, had bowed in solemn prayer, had lis- 
tened to words of exhortation, and there perhaps 
had received the first breath of spiritual life. No 
other place could be to them what that had been, 
and as the unsparing flames wrapped in their furious 
embrace the sacred building, and sent their lurid 
glare far up on the overhanging clouds and on the 
distant hill-tops, the tears of heartfelt sorrow broke 
forth, and lamentations were heard in many a 
household. It seemed to them like the triumphing 
of the wicked ; like the tread of the demon of evil 
upon their sacred Zion. 

But perhaps to no one was the intelligence " that 
the church was on fire " so heart-rending as to him 
who had administered at that sanctuary for the last 
fifty years. Mr. Potwine had now become an old 
man. He had reached the farther shore of time, 



27 

and the mists from eternity's vast ocean were begin- 
ning to gather around him. Advanced in life and 
weakened by disease, he was in no condition to bear 
such a trial. To him, above all others, that old 
edifice was precious. It had been the place of his 
life's labor ; the post where his master had stationed 
him in the days of liis early manhood, and in which 
he had been kept to his old age ; it was associated 
with all the memories so dear to a true pastor of 
the flock of Christ. He had there proclaimed a 
Saviour's dying love ; administered the elements 
commemorative of that Saviour's ato;iing sacri- 
fice ; witnessed the power of the truth upon those 
who listened to his message from the heights of 
Zion. It was the one spot to which for fifty years his 
mind turned with deep interest, and with which 
were connected his duty here and his crown here- 
after. He is said to have lost his usual elasticity 
of mind, his spirits drooped, and his bodily infirmi- 
ties increased in power, until the hour came which 
closed his trials and his stewardship. 

Now that time has worn away the prejudices of 
those opposed to the erection of a new building, and 
in favor of enlarging the old one, those of them who 
are now alive doubtless believe that it has resulted 
in good. And in what way could an old church be 
so properly disposed of as to be burned to ashes and 
mingled again with the dust ? Better far thus to be 
removed when no longer appropriate for that use to 
which it had been consecrated, than to have its 
pews converted into barn-yard fences, and its pulpit 
and sounding-board into hen-coops. 



28 

A period of darkness now ensued. The minds of 
many in the society were sadly embittered. The 
daring and wanton act which had been perpetrated by 
some rude hand could not be forgotten. More than 
one individual was suspected and openly charged 
with the crime, and at length a prosecution was 
commenced against several who had been members 
of the society. They of course denied the charge ; 
and those connected with them by friendship or 
family ties, were greatly aroused and violently 
embittered against the society, and withdrew their 
names from its list of members. It was a time of 
contention and consequent darkness. Some now 
living can no doubt recall the scene as one of severe 
trial to the lover of Zion ; as a time when Satan 
seemed to have gained the ascendency, and was 
about to root up the good seed which had been sown 
here by the preaching of the Word, and the prayers 
and tears of God's people. 

The trial in the courts lasted for some time, but 
the result of it is now of little consequence. Most, 
if not all, of those concerned in either side, have 
gone before a higher tribunal, and the troubled 
waters have long since subsided ; we would not 
raise a ripple on their calm surface. 

Whatever division of feeling existed within the 
society, there seems to have been a decision of pur- 
pose with a large majority in regard to the erection 
of a new place of worship. At the regular meeting 
of the society in the following April, Captain Heze- 
kiah Bissell being chosen moderator, it was 

" Voted, To build a meeting-house in this society^ 



29 

at a place where the Honorable General Assembly 
or County Court shall affix — by a majority of the 
whole except two — and that Caleb Booth, Esq., be 
agent in behalf of this society to proffer a memorial 
praying said Assembly or Court, as occasion may 
require, to appoint, order, and affix the place where- 
on said meeting-house shall be built, and also to 
apply to said Assembly for their resolve appropri- 
ating the materials and money provided for repair- 
ing the old meeting-house, lately burnt in this 
society, to the purpose of building a new one. 

Voted, To raise five mills on the dollar on the 
list of 1801, for the purpose of defraying the ex- 
penses." 

The expense referred to was more particularly 
intended for carrying on the law-suit ordered to be 
commenced against those suspected of having fired 
the old meeting-house. 

Also, 

" Voted, That John Stoughton, Jr., be collector 
to collect the said tax." 

On the 26th day of May, 1802, a meeting was 
held '' for the purpose of taking into consideration 
the doing of the Honorable General Assembly com- 
mittee in affixing the place whereon to build a 
meeting-house in this society, and for acting 
thereon." 

" Voted, Captain Hezekiah Bissell, moderator. 

Voted, That provided said Assembly shall ratify 
the doings of said committee, we will build a meet- 
ing-house on said place. 

Ninety-one in the affirmative and twenty-three 
in the negative." 

Voted, To adjourn this meeting to the 31st day 
of May, instant, at 2 o'clock, P. M." 
3* 



30 

On the 31st May, accordingly, the society again 
assembled ; Captain Hezekiah Bissell moderator. 

" Voted, To raise two cents on the dollar on the 
list of 1801, towards defraying the expense of build- 
ing the new meeting-house, wiien the General As- 
sembly have affixed the place, in addition to the four 
cent tax already voted and appropriated to the build- 
ing of said house, by said Assembly, payable on the 
first day of October, 1802. 

Voted, Messrs. John Morton, Thomas Potwine, 
Jr., and Job Ellsworth, be a committee to carry 
the building of said meeting-house into effect. 

Voted, To build said meeting-house of the fol- 
lowing dimensions : fifty-six feet in length and forty- 
seven feet in breadth, and a proportionable height, 
to be determined by the committee appointed to 
build said house ; and to erect the frame, and cover 
the outside, and lay the lower floor, by the first day 
of October, 1802, or as soon as may be. 

Voted, That John Watson, Jr., be the collector 
to collect the four cent tax voted 21st April, 1801. 

Voted, That Joseph Lord be collector to collect 
the two cent tax voted this day." 

The committee chosen by the society seems to 
have possessed a very commendable degree of energy 
in carrying out their resolutions, for in one month 
from the date of their last meeting the house was 
raised, and we suppose in some state of forwardness, 
so mucli so that at a meeting legally w^arned and 
held on the 2d of July, 1802, they felt it necessary 
to pass a vote and take measures for protection 
against any evil disposed persons who might attempt 
to injure it. The following resolution speaks for itself: 

" Voted, That Samuel Styles, Jeremiah Lord, 
and John Felshaw, be agents in behalf of this 



31 

society, and tliej are hereby authorized and ap- 
pointed to take care of the new meeting-house, 
lately erected in this society, and to commence a 
prosecution or prosecutions against any person or 
persons who shall attempt or commit any trespass 
on said meeting-house, in any wise injuring the 
same, and to make presentment to proper authority 
for any breaches of law or for any threats that have or 
that shall be uttered respecting said house, and pros- 
ecute the same to final judgment and execution." 

The last vote for raising the yearly salary of Rev. 
Mr. Po twine, was passed by the society at their reg- 
ular meeting in October, 1802. Caleb Booth, Esq., 
was chosen moderator, Ebenezer Watson, society's 
clerk, and Caleb Booth, Hezekiah Bissell, and Noah 
Allen, society committee. 

'' Voted, To raise two hundred dollars for the 
Rev. Thomas Potwine's salary for the current year. 

Voted, To raise sixteen pounds, sixteen shil- 
lings, to get the Rev. Thomas Potwine's wood for 
the year ensuing, to be paid to the following named 
persons, in proportion as they have undertaken to 
get said wood : 

To Daniel Osborn, 
Hezekiah Wells, 
Daniel Chapin, 
Hezekiah Bissell, 
Jolmathan Clark, 
Henry Wolcott, 
Paul Hamilton, 
David Bancroft, 
Alexander Yining, 6 
Joseph Button. 
Caleb Booth, 
Johnathan Button, 2 



4 


cords at 


8 


shillings, 


4 


u 


8 


a 


4 


u 


8 


4; 


8 


Li 


8 


U 





ii 


8 


u 


2 


u 


8 


u 


2 


u 


8 


(.i 


2 


a 


8 


u 


g,6 


a 


8 


u 


2 


u 


8 


u 


4 


a 


8 


u 


n,2 


cords." 


8 


ii 


42 





32 



This method of supplying the wood for Mr. Pot- 
wine had been adopted first at a meeting of the 
society in November, 1794, at which time an in- 
spector of the wood thus to be provided, was ap- 
pointed. 

Soon after this meeting in October, 1802, the 
society was left destitute of a pastor by the death 
of the Rev. Mr. Potwine.* They did not however 



* Mr. Potwine died ia November, 1802, about one year after the 
burning of the meeting-house. The following record of his last 
hours of life was made at the time when the scene occurred : 

" For more than ten days preceding his death, Mr. Potwine was 
exercised with great bodily distress, but patient and resigned to the 
hand of God. So great was his weakness that he was unable to 
converse in that length of time ; but while the lamp of life was glim- 
mermg in the socket, and every moment expected to be his last, on 
the morning of the Lord's day, Avhich was the day before his death, 
to the surprise of his mourning family and many people who called 
in to take a last and affectionate farewell of their beloved pastor, on 
their way to the place of public worship, at that moment he was 
favored with a short revival, his departing spirit recalled, and with 
an audible voice he asked them to unite with him in prayer ; and in 
the following words poured forth the desires of his heart. 

" Almighty God and Heavenly Father ! be pleased to be with us on 
this Thy holy day, to keep us from sin and all evil, and guide us in 
duty. Will God be with me. Thy servant, who is soon to be laid in 
the consuming grave. Merciful God ! be with me in my d3'ing mo- 
ments, to uphold and support me. Put underneath me Thine ever- 
lasting arras of mercy ; and support me 1iy Thy free, rich grace ; and 
receive my departing spirit to Thy blissful presence. Will God be 
with my dear and mourning wife in her great trials, and support her 
by Thy Holy Spirit. Will God sanctify my death to ray dear chil- 
dren, for their spiritual and everlasting good. And may my death 
be sanctified to my beloved church and people when I am laid in the 
dust. Unite them in one heart and one mind to serve the living and 
true God. Preserve them from Will worship ; and may they in 
truth and sincerity love and serve Thee. May they be united in 
harmony and peace. Bless the whole Israel of God ; and have com- 
passion on the immortal souls Thou hast made ; through the mei-its 
of Thy dear Son, our Lord and Saviour, and to Him, with the 
Father and Eternal Spirit, be ascribed everlasting praises. Amen." 

The last words which Mr. Potwine was heard to utter, were, 

" Christ is my all and in all." 



33 

relax in any of their efforts to finish their meeting- 
house, ah'eady erected, or to provide for themselves 
and families the stated preaching of the gospel ; and 
. it is highly gratifying to perceive how promptly and 
systematically they went on amidst the difficulties 
with which they were surrounded. They had now 
no spiritual leader. Many who had been members 
of the society either withdrew their aid or united 
in opposition ; but the business of the society went 
steadily on. 

A meeting was legally warned, and held on the 
10th day of January, 1803. Captain Hezekiah Bis- 
sell was chosen moderator ; when it was 

" Voted, That Caleb Booth be and he is hereby 
appointed agent for this society to apply to the 
association for advice and assistance in procuring 
a candidate to preach the gospel to them on pro- 
bation. 

Voted, To raise two cents on the dollar, on the 
list of 1802, for the purpose of paying the expenses 
on the meeting-house, already arisen, and likewise 
to build a pulpit." 

In March following, a meeting was held by ad- 
journment from that held 10th of January, which 
was again adjourned to the third Monday of March ; 
and on the third Monday the society again assem- 
bled, but the only resolution passed was the fol- 
lowing : 

'^ Voted, To dissolve this meeting." 



And the Rev. Mr. McClure, the pastor of the south church in 
East Windsor, chose them as the text from which he preached his 
funeral sermon, November 17th, 1802. 

Colossians iii. 2.—" Christ is all and in all." 



34 

That there was some difficulty, appears evident 
from these frequent meetings, without any action. 
There was, however, a majority of determined friends 
to religion and good order, for on the twenty-eighth 
day of March, instant, another meeting was legally 
warned, and held, at which considerable business 
was transacted. 

" Voted, Captain Hezekiah Bissell, moderator. 

Voted, Assael Stiles, clerk. 

Voted, Asael Stiles, Treasurer. 

Voted, To finish off the new meeting-house in 
this socitey complete by the first day of December 
next ; the stairs in the steeple to be included in fin- 
ishing said house. 

Voted, To raise six cents on the dollar, on the list 
of Aug. 20, 1802, to defray the expense of the same, to 
be paid at three several payments, viz. : \ first of 
Oct., 1803 ; ^ first of October, 1804 ; i first of Octo- 
ber, 1805 ; and that the rate-bills be immediately 
made out, that any persons so disposed may pay 
their proportions at once. 

Voted, That John Morton, Job Ellsworth, and 
Thomas Potwine, be the committee to finish said 
house. 

Voted, That Joshua Allen be a collector to col- 
lect said tax." 

The above meeting was adjourned to the 6th day 
of June following, when the following vote was 



" Voted, To raise five mills on the dollar, on the 
list of 1803, to defray the expense of hiring a cler- 
gyman to supply the pulpit in this society. 

Voted, Mr. Joshua Allen collector to collect the 
above tax." 

Mr. Booth had been successful in procuring a can- 



35 

didate, the Rev. Slmbael Bartlett ; and the above 
tax was laid for the purpose of paying him for his 
services. 

After preaching some months as a candidate, Mr. 
Bartlett received a call from the society to settle as 
their Pastor. 

The preliminary meeting for that purpose was 
held on the 28th day of November, 1803 ; Captain 
Hezekiah Bissell, moderator. The vote was passed 
to call Mr. Bartlett by a large majority, eighty-four 
voting in the affirmative, and twelve in the negative. 
The terms of settlement were 

Five hundred dollars to be paid him as a settle- 
ment, and a yearly salary of four hundred and 
fifty dollars, so long as he should be able to supply 
the pulpit, and if disabled from preaching, one-half 
the salary to be deducted. He was also to have the 
use of the minister lot. 

These terms were accepted by Mr. Bartlett in a 
communication which he made to the society, dated 
Hartford, 12th January, 1804, and which is now on 
record — the substance of which is as follows : 

He accepts the Cambridge platform in matters of 
church discipline, and especially as expressed in the 
following rules : 

1st. The Word of God is the only infallible and 
unerring rule of church discipline. 

2d. The church shall have a manual vote in the 
church. 

3d. That whenever the church shall have occa- 
sion to send a messenger, they shall choose him by 
ballot. 



36 

4th. That whenever there shall be occasion for a 
council, the church shall choose them — except it be 
an occasion when business is to be transacted be- 
tween the minister and the people, in which case the 
council shall be chosen mutually by the minister 
and by the church. 

5th. The church agrees to leave the examination 
of those who have a desire to join, with the church, 
in full communion, as to their qualifications with 
the minister. 

6th. That those who have a desire to join in full 
communion, have liberty to make a relation of their 
experience, in the church and congregation, upon 
their admission into the church. 

Under these principles of discipline the church 
and Mr. Bartlett bound themselves — which agree- 
ment being laid before the society at an adjourned 
meeting held the 9th day of January, 1804, it 
was 

" Voted ^ That the constitution and coevnant into 
which tne church have entered with Mr. Bartlett 
respecting church government and discipline, be 
recorded at large. 

Voted, That it is the will of this society, that 
Mr. Shubael Bartlett should be ordained in tliis 
society, to the work of the Gospel ministry, on the 
'15th day of February, 1804. 

Voted, That Caleb Booth, Hezekiah Bissell, and 
Noah Allen, be a committee to make the necessary 
provision for the Reverend clergymen who shall be 
invited as counselors, and to attend the Reverend 
gentlemen in council in behalf of this society." 

Thus under the kind care of Providence was the 



37 

society carried through all the trying scenes attend- 
ing the wanton destruction of their old meeting- 
liouse — the loss by death of their old minister — and 
the erection of a new, larger, and more perfect build- 
ing, and the settlement, by almost unanimous vote, 
of a new pastor in the prime of life, and well recom- 
mended by the churches for ability, piety, and pru- 
dence. 

The last tax raised for the completion of the meet- 
ing-house, was voted at an adjourned meeting held 
on the 10th day of December, 1804 — Captain Hez- 
ekiah Bissell being moderator. 

" Voted, To raise two cents five mills on the dol- 
lar, on the list of 1804, to enable the committee to 
complete the meeting-house, to be paid on the 1st 
day of May, 1805. 

Voted, Phinehas Blodgett collector, to collect the 
above tax." 

In 1841 the question l^egan to be agitated, what 
should be done to make our meeting-house more 
decent as a place of worship ? It had never been 
whitewashed or painted within since its erection. It 
had become not only unsightly in appearance, but 
really filthy. The square pews along the wall of 
the galleries, which had been assigned to the younger 
portion of the congregation — a very unhappy device 
— had attracted more and more the notice of those 
who had the respect to the proprieties of worship, 
in consequence of the facility afforded the young and 
thoughtless in conduct unbecoming the house of God, 
disturbing the serious minded, and effectually hin- 
dering whatever good they themselves might be in 

4: 



38 

the way of receiving. The square pews below were 
also not so convenient nor agreeable as they had 
been when square pews were fashionable. The 
seats were too narrow and the sides too high, and as 
cleaning the house and painting it would not remedy 
this evil nor some others which began to be more 
apparent as the subject was examined, it was seri- 
ously agitated at last to make a thorough alteration 
or to build anew. 

On the 28th of October, 1841, at a meeting of 
the society called for the purpose of considering the 
subject, it was unanimously resolved that a commit- 
tee be appointed to make thorough examination of 
churches in the vicinity which had been remodeled 
within a few years ; to recommend some plan for 
action ; and to ascertain at what cost such change 
as they should present, might be accomplished. 
This committee consisted of Chester Belknap, Esq., 
John W. Stoughton, Esq., and Azel S. Roe. 

On the 13th of December, 1841, this commit- 
tee made a report in accordance with their judg- 
ment, and presented a draft of the alteration pro- 
posed to be made, with an estimate of the expense. 
Whereupon it was voted that leave be given to 
Daniel Chapin, Esq., John W. Stoughton, Esq., and 
Mr. Stephen Potwine, in conjunction with the socie- 
ty's regular committee, to make such alteration ac- 
cording to the plan proposed, provided it could be 
done without any expense to the society. 

Of course the vote thus passed had in view to 
make the proposed alteration by subscription, as 
some members were not in favor of any change, and 



39 

did not like to be taxed for an object they did not 
approve. Two thousand dollars were required to 
do the work. At once a paper was handed for sub- 
scription, and in a day or so about one thousand 
dollars was gained, and after great exertions it at 
length arose to twelve hundred dollars; when the 
hopes of the most sanguine friends of the measure 
began to flag. There seemed to be insuperable dif- 
ficulties in the way. Many were ready to give some- 
thing if it was to be accomplished ; but they felt no 
favor to it, and would not aid unless it became very 
evident that the thing would succeed. At length 
an ardent friend to the measure proposed to double 
his subscription, which already amounted to one 
hundred dollars — others joined with him and offered 
to increase theirs — thus three-fourths of the sum 
was ensured, and those who did not wish to enjoy a 
benefit which they had no hand in providing, came 
forward, and the amount was soon completed. 

The accomplishment of the proposed plan resulted, 
we believe, in very general satisfaction. It afforded 
a neat and convenient place for worship, and also a 
commodious room for the Sabbath school, and pre- 
vented the necessity of polluting our sanctuary by 
such meetings as are not connected with the worship 
of God. 

The new room was consecrated by the venerable 
Pastor, Rev. Mr. Bartlett, by a solemn act of wor- 
ship, in which all the congregation arose, and by 
his and their act, dedicated it to the service of Jeho- 
vah, to be a temple purely for prayer and praise and 
holy teaching. 



40 



BELL AND CLOCK. 



The bell and clock were presented to the society 
as a donation, and the following is the first notice of 
them on record : 

" At a meeting of the second ecclesiastical society, 
legally warned, and held on the second day of Octo- 
ber, 1809 : 

Voted, Caleb Booth, Esq., moderator. Asahel 
Stiles, society clerk. Captain Noah Allen, Deacon 
Daniel Porter, and Lieutenant John Morton, society 
committee. 

Voted, That whereas sundry individuals belong- 
ing to the second ecclesiastical society in East Wind- 
sor, have provided, by free donation, a bell and also 
a clock, for the use and benefit of said society, and 
have freely presented the same by their committees ; 
therefore. 

Resolved, That this society cordially and grate- 
fully accept the donation and return them their 
sincere thanks for the same, and also to the respect- 
ive committees for their trouble and attention to this 
business." 

The bell and clock were no doubt put into their 
respective places immediately, for we find provision 
made for ringing the bell and taking care of the 
clock, at this same meeting, in the following vote : 

" Voted, To raise twenty-two dollars, to be paid to 
Mr. Thomas Tar])ox for rhiging the Ijeli and taking 
care of the clock." 

The reo'ulations for rinoingr the bell were not made 

O CO 

until 1812. At a meeting held in October of that 
year, it was 

" Voted, That the following shall be the regula- 
tions for ringing the bell : 

The bell shall be rung at 12 o'clock in the day, 



41 

and nine at night, five minutes each time. After 
ringing the bell at nine at niglit, to toll the day of 
the month. 

It shall ring every Sabbath morning at half past 
nine o'clock, fifteen minutes. It shall ring at meet- 
ing time five minutes, and then toll until the min- 
ister comes and enters the desk. 

In like manner before a lecture. 

It shall ring for a death five minutes ; for a male 
above ten years old, it shall strike three times three 
strokes ; for a female over ten years of age, it shall 
strike three times two strokes ; and for a child under 
ten years of age, three strokes ; and then it shall 
strike the age of the person deceased ; and then it 
shall be tolled fifteen minutes. It shall be tolled at 
a funeral when requested. 

It is not to be tolled for a death after the sun 
is down." 

We find no mention made of stoves for warming 
the meeting-house until 1825. At a meeting held 
in October of that year, Mr. Chester Belknap being 
moderator, it was 

"Voted^ To give liberty to the inhabitants of the 
second society in East Windsor, to put a stove or 
stoves into the meeting-house, provided they shall be 
the property of the society so long as the society 
shall suffer them to remain in said house." 

Nothing, however, was done in accomplishing what 
now seems ^uch an absolute necessity for comfort in 
the house of worship, until another year had passed. 

A meeting was held on the 25th day of December, 
1826, which was adjourned to the 2d day of January, 
182T, when Timothy Ellsworth, Esq., being chosen 
moderator, it was 
4* 



42 



" Voted, To raise three-fourths of a cent on a dol- 
lar, to defray the expenses of putting up stoves and 
pipes into the meeting-house — to provide fuel for 
the same, and a man to attend to the stoves." 



SEATING THE MEETING-HOUSE. 

The first notice in regard to pews is recorded at a 
meeting of the society in December, 1759, when a 
committee was appointed to finish the meeting-house 
with' pews. Whether the committee completed the 
work, is doubtful, for no mention is made of their 
doings, nor was any money voted for that purpose. 
In 1769, eighty pounds was raised for the purpose of 
finishing the meeting-house, and Ensign Lemuel 
Stoughton, Captain Jonathan Bartlett, and Simeon 
Wolcott, were appointed committee to carry tjie vote 
into effect. The next year, 10th day of December, 
1770, is the first notice we have of seating the meet- 
ing-house, so that in all probability the pews were 
not completed until that period. 

The persons selected for that purpose were James 
Harper, Simeon Wolcott, John Thompson, Jr., En- 
sign Lemuel Stoughton, and John Prior ; and the 
meeting was adjourned to the first Monday in Feb- 
ruary following, for the express purpose of hearing 
their report. The report was accepted. 

In December, 1785, a committee was again ap- 
pointed for the same purpose ; and at an adjourned 
meeting held on the second Monday of January fol- 
lowing, the report of that committee was heard and 
accepted. The persons appointed for that purpose 



43 

were Captain Hezekiah Bissell, Major Lemuel Stoiigh- 
ton, Captain Caleb Booth, Joseph Allen, Esq., and 
Ebenezer Watson, Jr. 

In December, 1790, it was 

" Voted, That the committee that seated the meet- 
ing-house the last time, be a committee to seat those 
persons who have come into the society since the 
meeting-house was last seated." 

In January, 1794, a committee was again ap- 
pointed to seat the house, and on the 1st April fol- 
lowing their report was accepted. 

The last order for seating the old house was made 
at a regular society meeting held on the 6th day of 
October, 1800. 

Samuel Stiles, Samuel Bartlett, Thomas Potwine, 
Jr., Benjamin Loomis, James Chamberlaine, Stod- 
ant Ellsworth and John Pasco were the committee 
appointed for that purpose. The meeting was ad- 
journed to the first Monday of February following, 
to hear their report. 

At that adjourned meeting the following question 
was put to the society by the moderator, Capt. 
Hezekiah Bissell : 

" Do you accept the doings of your committee in 
seating the meeting-house ?" 

" Voted in the affirmative." 

After the erection of the new meeting-house, in 
1802, nothing was done in reference to seating the 
house for twenty-four years. When the congrega- 
tion took possession of the new pews they probably 
seated themselves according to some principle which 
had been established during their occupancy of the 



44 

old house. It must, at least, have been an arrange- 
ment satisfactory to the larger part of the society, 
or it would not have been continued so long without 
some attempt to alter it. The first notice of any 
movement on the subject is recorded at a meeting 
of the society held the 2nd of October, 1826. 

At that meeting Timothy Ellsworth, Esq. was 
chosen moderator, and Capt. Simeon Barber, Lieut. 
Eli Morton and Daniel Chapin, society's committee. 

" Voted, That the society's committe be directed 
to embrace in their warning at the next annual meet- 
ing, to see if the society will lease the pews in the 
meeting-house in this society for one year — or 
whether they will do anything relating to selling the 
pews or seating the meeting-house." 

The society, however, seems to have been greatly 
divided in opinion on that subject, as well as otliers^ 
and after several adjourned meetings the matter was 
finally dropped until 1832, when at the regular meet- 
ing, held on the Jth of October, of that year, Jona- 
than Bartlett, Esq., being moderator, Chester Belk- 
nap, Esq., clerk and treasurer — Simeon Barber, 
John Bissell, Esq., 2nd, and Moses Osborn, society 
committee." 

The following resolution was passed : 

" Voted, To lease the pews for one year to raise 
money to defray the expenses of the society the cur- 
rent year and to discharge the debts now due from 
the society. 

Voted, That Messrs. Moses Osborn, John Bis- 
sell, Esq., Ira Wells, Samuel Bartlett, Esq., and 
Simeon Barber, be a committee for the above pur- 
pose." 



45 

This committee made report at an adjovirned meet- 
ing held in November, which was accepted, and the 
sale of the pews accordingly made — and this metliod 
of seating the meeting-house has been since usually 
adopted with slight variations. 

SINGING. 

Attention to singing, as a part of the worship of 
the sanctuary, has always been held among this peo- 
ple as of great importance, and very early in the 
history of the society we find the subject alluded to 
and provision made for its maintenance. 

At a meeting of the society in December, 1758, 
among other resolutions for the good of the society, 
we find the following : 

" Voted, To raise eight pounds to hire Mr. Beal 
or Mr. Wilson to teach us to sing." 

What method these gentlemen adopted in their 
term of instruction we can not now say, but it ap- 
pears some years afterwards, the society thought it 
necessary to pass a resolution which would seem to 
indicate that tl^e service had been performed pretty 
much " ad libitum." 

At a meeting of the society in April, 1771, it was 

" Voted, To introduce singing by 7'ule in the con- 
gregation." 

This resolution it would seem did not meet with 
approbation, for at a meeting of the society next 
year it was in effect rescinded, as follows : 

" Voted, Not to act upon the article of singing in 
the congregation." 



46 

There were, doubtless, wise men among them, who 
as soon as they perceived what testy folks singers 
were, resolved to let them have their own way — 
either to sing in unison or each one on their own 
hook, merely insisting upon the following regulation, 
which should be in force for one year : 

" Voted, To sing in the congregation without 
reading line by line, a part of the time, not exceed- 
ing one half, until the next annual meeting of the 
society." 

At the next annual meeting it was 

" Voted, To continue the singing in the congre- 
gation as agreed upon at the last meeting." 

No further attempt was made to interfere with the 
singing until 1794. 

At a meeting of the society, held in January of 
that year, the following resolution was passed : 

" Voted, To raise one farthing on the pound on 
the list of 1793, for the purpose of hiring a singing- 
master to instruct in the rules and art. of singing 
Psalms, so that singing in Divine worship may be 
performed decently and orderly in this society." 

The peculiar wording of this resolution rather 
leaves an impression upon the mind that things 
were ilot in respect to that department of the exer- 
cises just as they should have been. And the society 
appears now to be in earnest to correct the evil, for 
at the next annual meeting another farthing on the 
pound was raised, and Major Caleb Booth empow- 
ered to hire a singing-master for the winter. 

Again in 1796, a vote was passed to raise one-half 
penny on the pound for the purpose of hiring a 
teacher " to learn the inhabitants of this society the 



47 

rules of singing psalms in the congregation," and 
Daniel Osborn was appointed a committee to carr}' 
the resolution into effect. 

The last singing school for the benefit of worship 
in the old church, was in the winter of 1800 and 
1801. 

At a meeting held 6th October, 1800, it was 

" Voted, To raise two mills on the dollar, on the 
list of 1800, for the use of hiring a singing-master 
the ensuing winter. 

Voted, That Capt. Asahel Stiles should procure a 
singing master." 

Since the erection of the last meeting-house, and 
during the ministry of Mr. Bartlett, singing schools 
were enjoyed every few years ; the pastor himself 
always attended them, for he not only took great 
deliglit in sacred music, but he believed that the 
meeting together of the younger part of the congre- 
gation to engage in this exercise had a happy influ- 
ence on their minds, and he has often been heard to 
say that he could date the beginnings of several 
revivals of religion from the close of the singing- 
schools. His prayerful watch over them did, no 
doubt, much to prevent the evils which have come 
upon other ecclesiastical societies from this source. 
Long may our choir remember that they have been 
subjects of most intense interest in the prayers not 
only of him who has lately been buried from their 
sight, but doubtless of him also who first proclaimed 
the gospelin this place. 

Nearly a century had elapsed since the formation 
of the society and the settlement of their first pas- 
tor, the Rev. Mr. Po twine. For almost half a cen- 



48 

tury he had held his station, until the infirmities of 
age laid him aside, and the hand of death finally 
separated him from the people of his charge. His 
successor, the Rev. Mr. Bartlett, although a young 
man at his settlement, in 1847, began to feel the in- 
firmities of age, and both himself and those over 
whom he was placed, became impressed with the fact 
that an associate in his labors would be conducive to 
his own comfort, and the welfare of his people. After 
taking the matter into serious consideration, he 
placed in the hands of the society's committee the 
following communication : 

" To Messrs. Ira Wells, John Bissell, and A. C. 
Stiles, the Committee, and Chester Belknap, Clerk 
and Treasurer of the First Ecclesiastical Society in 
East Windsor, 26th May, 1847. 

" It has been proposed by some of you, and some 
others, of my pastoral charge, that in considera- 
tion of my advanced age, and gradually increasing 
infirmities by reason of age, there should be sought 
and settled with me a colleague pastor to aid me in 
the arduous and multiplied duties of the pastoral 
office among this people. 

" With my sober judgment and my heart I ap- 
prove of this plan, and hereby express to you, as 
officers of this society, my free and full consent 
that this should be done as soon as witli proper 
watchfulness and prayer, and with appropriate labors 
on the part of all concerned, it may please God in 
his holy and wise Providence to permit. Praying 
that all concerned may have all needed help from 
God in this important matter, and the continued 
blessing of the great Head of the Church, I am, my 
beloved brethren and friends. 

Your affi3ctionate Pastor, 

Shubael Bartlett." 



49 

This letter was laid before the society at a meet- 
ing warned for tlie purpose 24th August, 1847, 
when the following resolutions were passed : 

" Voted, That the Society deem it expedient to 
concur in the proposition of our Pastor as commu- 
nicated in the above letter. 

Voted, That a committee of three persons be 
chosen to act in unison wdth a committee of the 
church to carry into effect the above resolution. 

Voted, That the present society's committee act 
for that purpose — consisting of Ira Wells, John Bis- 
sell and A. C. Stiles." 

The two committees of the church and society, 
selected two of their number, John Bissell, Esq. 
and John W. Stoughton, Esq., to look out for and 
select some person as a suitable candidate, and they 
having invited the Rev. Samuel J. Andrews to 
preach as such to the people, a decided expression 
in his favor was almost immediately made, and at 
a meeting regularly warned for the special purpose, 
on the 22nd July, 1848 — Nelson S. Osborn being 
chosen chairman, and Fayette W. Blodgett, clerk 
" pro tem," the following resolutions were passed : 

" Voted, That this society in common with the 
church as expressed by their vote, do entertain the 
fullest confidence in the character, talents and quali- 
fications of the Rev. Samuel J. Andrews to fill the 
place of associate pastor with the Rev. Shubael 
Bartlett over this church and people. 

Voted, That we do hereby concur with the 
church in a unanimous invitation to Rev. Samuel 
J. Andrews, to settle with us as an associate pastor 



60 

in the ministry with the Rev. Shubael Bartlett, over 
this church and society. 

Voted, That this society, as a compensation for 
his services, offer to pay Mr. Andrews the sum of 
seven hundred dollars per annum, in equal sums, at 
the end of every half year during the time of his 
settlement with us. 

Voted, That the proceedings of this meeting 
and the action of the committee appointed to carry 
them into effect, together with the answer of Mr. 
Andrews, be officially communicated to the Rev. 
Mr. Bartlett, our pastor, and that they express to 
him the undiminished feeling and esteem of this 
society." 

The committee thus officially instructed, presented 
the proposals of the church and society to the Rev. 
Mr. Andrews, and they had the satisfaction of doing 
it with the unanimous vote of both the church and 
society. The following letter was received in reply : 

" HousATONic, August 3rd, 1848. 

To the Committee of the First Congregational 
Society in East Windsor : 

Gentlemen : — Your letter informing me of the 
action of your church and society was duly received, 
and I hereby accept the invitation to become your 
associate Pastor. 

I trust that the great Head of the Church will 
make this relation, if in his good pleasure it shall 
be formed, a source of blessing to us individually, of 
good to his church, and of glory to his name. 
I am, truly yours, 

SAMUEL J. ANDREWS." 



' 51 

To Messrs. Daniel Chapin, ) Committee 

John W. Stoughton, S of the 
Chauncey Ellsworth, ) C/iKrch. 

And to Ira Wells, ) 

John Bissell, > Com. of the Society.^' 
A. C. Stiles, ) 

III October following, Mr. Andrews was solemnly 
ordained and installed to his sacred office, and com- 
menced his peculiar and responsible duties for which 
by nature, and more especially by the grace of God 
he was in an eminent degree qualified. 

The last act of the society in reference to their 
old pastor, the Rev. Mr. Bartlett, is recorded at a 
meeting held in November 1854, as follows : 

" Whereas, In the Providence of God our highly 
esteemed minister, Rev. Shubael Bartlett, has been 
removed by death, and the society being desirous to 
make a lasting expression to his memory, therefore, 
resolved, that as a token of respect to the deceased, 
to the aged and highly esteemed widow and other 
members of the family, the sum not exceeding one 
hundred dollars be appropriated by this society for 
the erection of a suitable monument to the memory 
of the deceased." 

SCHOOL SOCIETY. 

Next to the establishment of religious worship in 
a community, the school-house ranks as most im- 
portant, and the records of this society show from 
its commencement a commendable interest in that 
subject. 

The first amount raised by tax for schooling was 
twenty pounds, while the salary paid to Rev. Mr. 
Potwine was sixty pounds. This was in 1753, 4, 5, 



52 

6, and so od, increasing every few years in amount 
until 1782, when the same amount was raised for 
schooling as for the minister's salary. After that 
year we cannot define the exact amount raised, as a 
tax was laid of two pence on the pound on all rate- 
able property in the town, and thus thereafter con- 
tinued until 1795. The subject of schooling was 
taken charge of with the same care and interest as 
the support of the ministry. Some resolution con- 
nected with the schools was passed at every regular 
meeting. The whole bounds of the society were 
separated into districts, and persons living in one 
district could not have the advantage of the school 
out of their boundaries although possibly much more 
convenient, without a vote of the society, as the fol- 
lowing extracts from the records will show : 

At a meeting of the society held the 11th Dec, 
1769, 

" Voted, Daniel Osborn shall belong to the south 
school in the street for three years from and after 
this date, and that his school-rate shall be set to that 
school." 

Again, a few years later, it was 

" Voted, That Daniel Osborn shall belong to the 
south 'district of schooling in the street, one year 
from date, and his money to be set to that school for 
said limited time — and that Samuel Osborn, Jr., 
shall belong to the middle district of schooling east 
of Scantic, in the woods, and his money spent in 
said school accordingly." 

The first school-houses appear to have been erected 
in Main-street, of which there were two, probably 
erected at nearly the same time. The first regular 



"53 

districting of the whole parish took place in 1766. 
A committee consisting of Ebenezer Bliss, David 
Skinner and Lemuel Stoughton, was appointed for 
that purpose, and their report is dated 27th Feb., 
1766. The substance of it, so far as can be gathered 
from the instrument on record, is as follows : 

" That tliere shall l)e four schools, viz : 

1st. On the west side of Scantic River to compre- 
hend all north of the meeting-house, west of said 
river to a mile and a half from the Great River. 

2nd. East of Scantic, to comprehend all east of 
said river, south of the center line and west of the 
land called ' sequestered land.' 

3rd. To comprehend all east of Scantic River, 
north to Enfield. 

4th. To comprehend all west of Scantic River, 
and south of the meeting-house, a mile and a half 
from the Great River." 

Those who understood the bounds of the parish, 
will be able to estimate, from these data, the distan- 
ces which their ancestors when children, had to 
travel through storms and cold to the places where 
the rudiments of their education must be obtained ; 
to some of them, at least, it was a practical illustra- 
tion of " knowledge being obtained under diffi- 
culties." 

The teachers must also have had their share of 
patience and industry, and been willing to do much 
for small pay — for at this period, thirty pounds was 
all the money raised for the 'support of schools, and 
that was paid in grain — wheat 4^, rye Ss, and Indian 
corn 2s per bushel. 

In December, 1770, a committee was appointed 
5* 



54 

" to view the situation of the two districts of school- 
ing in the street, and if they think proper, that thej 
should be divided and made into three districts." 
The persons appointed were all Bissels, — " Mr. Noah 
Bissell, Lieut. Aaron Bissell, and Mr. David Bis- 
sell" — and the meeting was adjourned to the follow- 
ing February. 

But at the adjourned meeting the report was not 
accepted. 

In December, 1771, a new district was set off 
east of Scantic, viz. : 

" Voted, To make a district of schooling of the 
south-east corner of the society, extending north of 
Ketch Brook, to include Simeon Barber and Roger 
Loomis, and extending west to the east end of the 
three mile lots, including Jerijah Bissell who lives 
on the east end of said lots, and to extend east and 
south to the bounds of the society.'' 

In February, 1772, a reconsideration took place of 
the " Bissell Committee," whose report in reference 
to a division of the street districts had the year 
before been rejected. 

The vote passed is as follows : 

" Voted, To establish the doings of Messrs. Noah 
Bissell, Aaron Bissell, and David Bissell, appointed 
by the society to view the situation of the two dis- 
tricts of schools in the street." 

The report, however, which they made, it will not 
be necessary to relate here, for although it was ac- 
cepted and ordered to be put upon the records of 
the society, it appears not to have been universally 
approved, and as their laws when passed do not 



55 

seem to have been of the character of the Medes 
and Persians, they in a very short vote at their next 
meeting nullified the proceedings, viz. : 

" Voted ^ To make but two districts of schooling 
in the street." 

As there had been two previous to the appoint- 
ment of the " Bissell Committee," it amounts to the 
same as deciding to let things remain in statu quo — 
and thus matters remained until 1781 — when a 
Committee was appointed to arrange all the districts 
as they thought best and report to the society. On 
the 31st December, 1781, the committee made re- 
port, of which we give the opening and the close : 

'' To the inhabitants of the third society in East 
Windsor convened in society meeting. 

Gentlemen : — ^ Whereas, at your last society meet- 
ing you made choice of the subscribers as a commit- 
tee to view and consider the circumstances of the 
school districts and see if increasing the number of 
the districts will be best and advisable — therefore, 
having viewed, heard the pleas and arguments, and 
considered the case, now beg leave to report our 
opinion on the premises." 

After dividing the parish into six districts — three 
on the east of Scantic and three on the west — and 
running the several boundaries, they close as fol- 
lows : 

" All which is submitted to your \ Wishing you 
better wisdom by your most > the blessing 
obedient humble servants, ) of peace. 

Aaron Bissell, \ 

Am AS A LooMis, > Committee.'*^ 

Thomas Foster, \ 



56 

The above report was accepted with the following 
alterations, viz. : 

" That Samuel Bartlett be set and belong to the 
school district north of the highway between Israel 
Stiles and said Bartlett — and that John Bartlett be 
set and belong to the south district of schools west 
of Scantic River in the woods — and that William 
Bartlett, now lining at Scantic Mills, belong to the 
school district east of Scantic River, as reported." 

At a meeting of the north society, held in Decem- 
ber, 1789, a petition was presented from the inhab- 
itants of Warehouse Point to be set off as a distinct 
school district. The petition was granted and the 
bounds defined as follows : 

" Beginning at the north-west corner bounds of 
East Windsor, then running south along the line of 
Connecticut River to the south side of a lot of land 
lately owned by Timothy Thrall, then east by the 
south line of said land within forty rods of the Cov- 
entry road, then north the same distance from said 
road to Enfield line, then west to the first-mentioned 
bounds." 

In December, 1793, at a meeting of the society, 
it was 

" Voted^ That the south-east district of schooling 
commonly called Ketch-Mill district be divided, and 
the Ketch-Brook as it runs through said district be 
a dividing line of said district." 

The last act which appears upon record of this 
ecclesiastical society in reference to common schools, 
is dated 9th day of November, 1795. The usual 
two pence on the pound was voted for the use of 
schooling for the coming year, and the usual com- 



57 

• 

mittee of twelve persons chosen to collect the money 
and superintend the schools. Some change, no 
doubt, took place by act of Legislature which took 
the management of schools from the society as an 
ecclesiastical body, for we read no more concerning 
schools in any of their records. 

SOCIETY FUND. 

The first mention of any fund for the support of 
the Gospel ministry in this parish, appears to be a 
sum left by Capt. Samuel Stiles. 

At a meeting of the society on the 4th day of 
October, 1813, the following resolution was passed : 

" Voted, That the society committee be directed 
to receive the sum of one thousand dollars given to 
this society by the last will of Capt. Samuel Stiles, 
deceased, and dispose of the same according to the 
tenor of said instrument." 

And, year by year, after this, we find the interest 
of this fund used in part for the payment of the min- 
ister's salary — at first as an addition to the regular 
salary on account of the high price to which the 
necessaries of life had risen, and thus it was con- 
tinued until 1820. 

The next addition to the fund appears to have 
been received from the State and is called the State 
Fund — the record concerning it was made at a 
society's meeting held the 6th day of October, 1818, 
as follows : 

" Voted^ That the State Fund received at Hart- 
ford in December last, by the society committee, and 



58 

interest amounting to one hundred and seventy- 
seven dollars, be put at interest and remain as a fund 
for the support of the Gospel ministry in this society 
during the pleasure of this society." 

At an adjourned meeting held on the 2nd day of 
January, 1827, we find the first notice of the Bart- 
lett Fund : 

" Voted, To accept of the donation given by Mr. 
Samuel Bartlett, of one thousand dollars, to the 
second society in East Windsor, under its restric- 
tions." 

The following extract from the will of Mr. Bart- 
lett, will show the nature of the donation and the 
restrictions above referred to : 

" And wishing to perpetuate a regular Gospel min- 
istry, I will that my executor pay as a donation which 
I now make to the second ecclesiastical society in East 
Windsor to which I belong, the sum of one thousand 
dollars under the following restrictions, viz. : That 
this donation shall be kept at annual interest until 
principal and interest shall amount to four thousand 
dollars, and when the whole sum shall amount to 
the aforesaid sum of four thousand dollars, the 
interest arising thereon shall be applied annually 
towards paying the minister's salary in the society, 
leaving the principal of four thousand dollars entire 
with the following conditions being complied with, 
viz. : 

1st. That said society keep and maintain a decent 
meeting-house in which to perform public worship. 

2nd. The said meeting-house to be the sole and 
entire property of said society. 

3rd. That said society shall not at any time be 
destitute of an ordained minister more than two 
years, which minister shall be a learned man of true 



59 

orthodox principles according to the sense in which 
our forefathers maintained the same. 

4th. They shall not pay any of the interest arising 
on this donation to hire a minister of different prin- 
ciples, — but if at any future period of time shall 
neglect or refuse to comply with the above conditions 
and restrictions, then and in that case said donation 
shall be forfeited by said society to my executor or 
his heirs to sue for and recover the said donation to 
his or their use." 

This fund reached the amount specified in the 
will of Mr. Bartlett, (four thousand dollars) in 1849, 
and the income from it has been since that period 
appropriated for the purpose to which it was conse- 
crated by the devisor. 

At an adjourned meeting of the society held 13th 
of October, 1845, a committee previously appointed 
for the purpose of making a permanent lease of the 
parsonage lot, reported as follows : 

That they had leased to Mr. Daniel Chapin the 
" ministry lot of land " for the term of nine hundred 
and ninety-nine years from April, 1845, for the sum 
of fourteen hundred and seventy dollars ninety-three 
cents. 

And the society's committee was instructed to pay 
the interest on said amount of fourteen hundred 
and seventy dollars and ninety-three cents to Rev. 
Shubael Bartlett, annually, on the first day of De- 
cember in each year, subject to the regulations of 
settlement of Mr. Bartlett. 

At a meeting of the society held in October, 1854, 
this fund was appropriated as follows : 

" Voted, That the fund belonging to the first 
ecclesiastical society in East Windsor, arising from 



60 

the sale of the ministry lot (so called) and amount- 
ing to fourteen hundred and seventy dollars «and 
ninety-three cents, be applied to liquidate the indebt- 
edness of this society in building their parsonage- 
house and purchasing land of the same, and that 
said fund shall not be appropriated for any other 
purpose whatever." 



NAMES OF THE SOCIETY. 

East Windsor, when first set off as a town, in- 
cluded South Windsor and Ellington, and the pres- 
ent East Windsor. The present society of East 
Windsor, from 1752 to 1768, was called the sixth 
society in Windsor. After the original town of East 
Windsor was incorporated, A. D. 1768, this society 
was denominated the third society in East Windsor. 
A. D. 1786, Ellington was set off as an incorporated 
town ; after which period we have been known as the 
second society of East Windsor, until A. D. 1846, 
when a separation having taken place by the incor- 
poration of South Windsor, as a distinct town, we 
have been distinguished as the first society in East 
Windsor. 



S K E T C H 



%iit of %± m^M iartlrtl 



We all have our spheres of usefulness, which, by 
a wise Provideuce we are educated to fill ; and be it 
larger or smaller, the area of a kingdom or a parish 
of five miles square ; the sentence of approbation by 
the great Judge will be not according to the ampli- 
tude of the influence, but to the faithful occupancy 
of the part allotted. The ten talents improved may 
indeed receive a tenfold recompense, but the pos- 
sessor of the five if faithful to his trust, will hear 
the same " Well done good and faithful servant," 
and receive the same glorious invitation " to enter 
into the joy of his Lord." 

In attempting to sketch the life of one who filled 
no large place in the public eye, I am relieved from 
any necessity of embellishment, in an endeavor to 
present striking deeds in their most effective form, 
or brilliant speeches with all their powerful accom- 
paniments of time and circumstance. Those who 
will read these lines consecrated to affection, and for 
6 



62 

whom they were written, will want nothing but a 
plain delineation, a fair and honest portraiture of 
their old Pastor, to make it acceptable to them, and, 
if the writer shall succeed in doing this, the object of 
his effort will be fully accomplished. 

The Rev. Shubael Bartlett, the subject of this 
memoir, was born at Lebanon, in the State of Con- 
necticut, 2nd of April, 1778. 

His father, Mr. John Bartlett, was a deacon in 
the Congregational church at Lebanon, under the 
pastoral charge of Rev. Dr. Ely. In a direct line 
he could trace his ancestry to John Alden, who 
landed at Plymouth in December, 1620, and the 
whole line of pedigree runs through those who were 
professedly pious persons. 

Mr. John Bartlett was a man in plain circumstan- 
ces, working with his own hands at the shoemaker's 
trade ; but training his family in the fear of God, 
and had the pleasure of beholding his children walk- 
ing in the ways of righteousness and professing faith 
in Jesus Christ. In his declining years, having lost 
his wife, and his children being scattered abroad, he 
left Lebanon and closed his life at the house of his 
son. Rev. Shubael Bartlett, at East Windsor. 

I find in the diary of Mr. Bartlett this record : 

" If ever I was born again, I have reason to hope 
that it was some time in the springing of the year, 
A. D. 1794." 

He united with the church in June of the same 
year, so that he must have made a profession of re- 
ligion when he was sixteen years of age. 



His mind was soon after this turned towards the 
ministry, and he commenced studies preparatory to 
entering college under the Rev. Zebulon Ely, and in 
September, 1796, entered the freshman class at Yale 
College. 

His means for a collegiate course were mainly 
provided by himself, in part by teaching, together 
with some perquisites received by him for services in 
the College. His father could spare but little from 
his income for such purposes, and in those days there 
were no benevolent societies to offer assistance to 
young men in the arduous undertaking of a colle- 
giate course. The rock had to be broken then by 
resolute and sturdy blows. 

From an old friend of his, and a long tried friend 
of the people of God, I have received this aacount 
of him in those days of his youth. 

" I have known Mr. Bartlett ever since the year 
he first came to New Haven ; he was quite young, 
tall and prepossessing in his appearance, and of 
pleasant polite manners, and remarkably steady and 
correct in all his deportment. He was then a pro- 
fessor of religion, and it was a very uncommon thing 
in that day for one so young to be willing to be 
known as a follower of Christ — but he maintained a 
consistent walk and had also the respect of his class-, 
mates — and it required a great deal of prudence and 
grace for one situated as he was to avoid giving un- 
necessary offense by too strict a walk or yielding so 
far to the views and feelings of the irreligious as to 
compromise his Christian principles. He was much 
respected in College as well as by those with whom 
he associated in the city. And he has ever been the 
same. I have known him for more than fifty years, 
and esteem his friendship very highly." 



64 

This testimony is from one who never flattered, 
and who had every opportunity for judging. 

That it was a peculiarly trying time for a professor 
of religion, may be imagined from the fact that he 
was the only member of the freshman class who was 
pious. There was not one professor in the sopho- 
more class ; but one in the junior, and but eight or 
ten in the senior. There was in the College what 
was called the Moral Society, and the year Mr. Bart- 
lett entered college, he with the other professors of 
religion were expelled from it, as being too strict in 
their principles. 

The close of the last century may well be termed 
the period when infidelity triumphed, when pure 
religion was scoffed at and made to hide her head 
and weep in secret places. 

In the College the sacred ordinances of Chris- 
tianity were ridiculed, and on one occasion on a 
Communion Sabbath, some of the stu.dents in the 
dining hall cut the bread in pieces to represent the 
sacred emblem of Christ's body and impiously offered 
it to a solitary professor who was dining with them, 
intending thereby to wound the feelings of the youth 
just from the table of his Lord. 

Nor was the state of things much better in the 
city. It is believed that between 1796 to 1800, there 
were in New Haven, exclusive of the College, but 
three persons under the age of twenty-five years pro- 
fessors of the Christian faith. Religion was cast 
aside as unfitted for the freedom of youth, and no 
greater breach of politeness could be committed, 
than to introduce the subject in the social circle. 



65 

Well was it for the best interests of the College, 
and the church at large, that there was at the head 
of that institution in that dark and memorable 
period, a Champion of Christ, distinguished alike as 
a scholar and a man of devoted piety, — one who 
could meet the adversary with weapons of his own 
as well as with the panoply of the gospel. 

To his wise and careful management ; to his 
prayers and powerful arguments ; to his bold attacks 
upon the very citadel of infidelity, the corrupted 
heart ; may be attributed, under God, the glorious 
change which took place in the year 1802, and which 
converted that hot-bed of Satanic plants into a nur- 
sery for the Church. 

The name of Dwight must ever have a high place 
among those great and good men, who in that day 
of the enemy's power, stood forth mightily for the 
truth. 

Through such a period for the trial of faith and 
constancy, our pastor in the days of his youth was 
safely carried ; and in the revival which occurred 
while he was still there, preparing for the ministry, 
he took a very decided and active part, and enjoyed 
the unspeakable pleasure of beholding those who 
had once ridiculed religion, coming to him to ask 
" what they should do to be saved." 

Having finished his collegiate course in the year 
1800, he commenced studying for the ministry under 
Dr. Dwight, and in the course of the year 1802, was 
licensed to preach the gospel. The following extract 
from his diary on the occasion of writing his first 
sermon, will be read with deep interest by those who, 
6* 



66 

knowing him for many years as a preacher of the 
gospel, will be able to testify how truly the just 
thoughts and feelings contained therein were sus- 
tained to the very last : 

" Sept. 23rd, 1802. I am now writing my first 
discourse, which (God willing) I shall preach to my 
fellow-men. God grant that I may feel the worth 
of precious souls ; that I may feel how important it 
is to be an ambassador of Christ to my fellow-men. 
In this exalted calling may I never seek after glory 
from men. May I seriously and certainly consider 
that the eye of an all-seeing and infinitely holy God 
is upon me and that the day is very fast approach- 
ing when I shall have to give an account to the 
Judge of all the earth of the manner in which I 
have labored in the heritage of God. Let me never 
attempt to proceed one step in my own strength. 
Assist me Lord my God by thy grace, and direct 
me by thine unerring counsel. May I be sensible 
that without Thee I can do nothing. But may I 
firmly trust in Thy grace with a confident assurance 
that I can do all things which God may require of 
me through Christ strengthening me. Let thy 
strength gracious Redeemer, be made perfect in 
my weakness." 

This extract will suffice to show the frame of mind 
that marked his early years, his humility, his trust 
in God, and his dependence on divine grace alone 
for the accomplishment of his mission as a minister 
of Christ, and on the divine blessing alone, for what 
of earthly good he hoped to enjoy. 

Having completed his studies for the ministry in 
the winter of 1802, he visited Hartford for the pur- 
pose of recreation, and then for the first time be- 



67 

came acquainted with her who was destined to travel 
by his side all the rest of his life's journey — who was 
to be the light of his home — liis comforter in sorrow 
— his wise counselor and the delight of his heart 
until its earthly emotions should forever cease. 

We all know how blessed was that union — what 
rich fruits resulted from it for his usefulness as a 
pastor and his comfort as a man. 

In January 7th, 1803, Mr. Bartlett received an 
invitation from the second society in East Windsor, 
to prea^ch as a candidate, the church being then left 
destitute by the death of their former pastor. Rev. 
Thomas Po twine. 

Soon after this invitation he came and supplied 
the pulpit for several months. Towards the close of 
the year a call was voted by the church and society, 
and handed to him for acceptance. Mr. Bartlett 
did not immediately decide, for at the same time 
other societies were in communication with him in 
reference to a settlement, and on many accounts pre- 
ferred more eligible claims for his acceptance. 

The second society in East Windsor did not then • 
present the favorable aspect which it now does. It 
had many of the roughnesses of a new settlement. 
Much of the land in the parish was covered with 
forests. The houses of most of the farmers were 
plain, unfinished buildings ; but little attention had 
been paid to the higher branches of education, and 
there were many things uncongenial to the taste of 
one who had for the most of his life mingled with 
society where the best advantages were enjoyed. 

Dr. Dwight had not only been his teacher, but he 



68 

had also on many occasions proved himself an inter- 
ested friend. Mr. Bartlett therefore resolved to lay 
the case before him. The Dr. knew the parish, and 
he well knew the character and qualifications of his 
pupil. He believed that it was a place where he 
could do much good — where his conciliatory man- 
ners, his modest spirit, and his prudent piety, would 
be of great use in healing discords, inspiring lauda- 
ble ambition, and refining the exterior of society, as 
well as improving the heart. 

He also gave him some valuable advice in refer- 
ence to his own personal walk among his people — 
knowing as he did that parties were, in hostile array 
against each other. He cautioned him against tak- 
ing sides with either ; not even, if possible, to know 
anything of the cause of dissension, and to use all 
means in his power to heal every breach and to 
enlist in one common effort to build up the society 
all within the bounds of the parish. 

And we have reason to believe that Mr. Bartlett 
not only acted upon this advice, but that his conduct 
had the most happy influence upon the people of his 
charge. 

Having accepted the call, on the 15th February, 
1804, he was solemnly ordained in the new meeting- 
house as pastor of the church and people. 

He was already married, and with his wife and 
one child, immediately began preparations for a per- 
manent location, by erecting for himself a dwelling. 
Mrs. Bartlett's father was not a man of wealth, but 
he had accumulated some property, and was not a 
little ambitious that his only child should have a 



69 

good '' setting out." He had given her the best 
education that the day afforded, and was proud to 
know that she was respected and beloved in every 
circle that she visited. A minister would not have 
been the choice for a daughter by any father who 
cared supremely for worldly advantage. But her 
choice had pleased him, for reasons of more con- 
sequence to her happiness, than any amount of 
worldly wealth or fame ; and, therefore, with great 
pleasure he anticipated doing his best to furnish her 
abode wherever it might be. 

Mrs. Bartlett knew well what were the wishes of 
her father in reference to the style in which he ex- 
pected she should be established. And knowing 
how much he thought of having his only child, the 
pride of his heart, living with all those conveniences 
and agreeable things about her to which she had ever 
been accustomed, and in as good style as any of her 
companions in the city, it was no small trial to 
lier to make known to him the very different views 
she had formed on the subject. But one day when 
he requested her to go with him and make her 
own choice between two pieces of furniture he had 
been looking at for her, she complied, of course, 
and even decided which of the two she preferred. 
It was as fine an article as was then manufactured, 
and if all things were to be in accordance with it, 
her house would certainly be furnished as well as 
the most fastidious taste could desire. 

On returning home she resolved at once to unfold 
her own views and wishes. 

" How much do you suppose, Father, (she asked 



70 

him) it will cost you to furnish my house as you 
intend doing ?" 

" Probably hundred dollars." 

" Would you have any objections, Father, to let me 
supply myself with just such articles of furniture as 
will be absolutely necessary to live in a very plain 
way, and use the rest of the money in building a 
house, that we may have a home of our own ?" 

It was a startling proposition, and one which his 
feelings at first rebelled against. But he soon saw 
the propriety of it, and fell in with his daughter's 
wishes. A piece of ground was purchased at East 
Windsor, not far from the church. It was then 
covered with woods, and the trees had to be cut 
down to make room for the dwelling and garden. 
The frame was raised on the 3rd of July, 1804, and 
Mr. and Mrs. Bartlett with their babe of ten months 
old, moved into their new house in the following 
December. 

Thus to be particular about such a matter as thp 
building of a dwelling and the commencement of 
house-keeping by a newly married pair, may to some 
appear rather too small a concern to be forced into a 
biography. But all who have ever enjoyed hospi- 
tality beneath that roof, who have known anything 
of the order, peace, and heavenly quiet there en- 
joyed, will think differently. 

That home was destined to be a place where a 
Christian family should for fifty years shed its beau- 
tiful light, — where parents and children should live 
in uninterrupted harmony, where the morning and 
evening sacrifice should send up its incense, and the 
fire on God's altar there never be allowed to go out 



71 

during half a ceiituiy — and here it may be expected 
that some especial notice be taken of her who was 
emphatically the Christian mother and mistress of 
her husband's home. True she is yet among us 
and I would not do aught by a personal reference to 
wound feelings that have ever shrunk from noto- 
riety, — yet she too has reached the shore of that 
vast ocean on which her long loved partner has just 
launched, — her life-work too is drawing to its close ; 
she sits alone in her deserted mansion, and as her 
life has been devoted to the good of others, it surely 
can not pain her now to hear what others think of 
the character she has borne, nor to know that the 
track she has left through her long life is bright even 
to its closing days with the graces of the Christian, 
woman. 

It needed no little sacrifice of worldly ambition 
in the hey-day of her youth, to leave the enticing 
scenes of a city where she was caressed and loved, 
to take a place where she must labor with her 
own hands and accommodate herself to straitened 
means and moderate her wishes to suit the views 
and feelings of those among whom her husband had 
chosen to labor ; to leave a home where every wish 
was gratified, for a station where all her energies 
must be exerted to please others and those whose 
habits of life were of necessity dissimilar to those in 
which she had been educated. But she counted the 
cost and began her life's service with a cheerful 
heart. 

Mr. Bartlett held his house as he did all his tem- 
poral blessings, as a steward for God. He felt that 



72 

he had no right to say who should come and who 
should not come to enjoy its hospitality ; but whom- 
soever the Lord should send, his duty was to open 
his heart and his house to him, to bid him welcome 
in his Master's name, trusting that the great Provi- 
der would enable him to sustain the burden. He 
never courted company, nor made a preference of 
the rich to the neglect of the poor. In the country, 
as all know who live there, wanderers are continu- 
ally calling in — wretched outcasts who by improvi- 
dence or misfortune have lost a resting place on 
earth and have " no certain home." In general 
every house is open for them to give them a meal 
and then let them go on their desolate way. To 
such as these, peculiar attention was always paid at 
this Christian dwelling. Mrs. B. would always re- 
ceive them in her kind and pleasant way, provide 
for them of the best she had, and then taking her 
seat by the poor stranger in that peculiar way which 
she had of drawing out the secrets of those who 
were in trouble, without injuring their feelings, 
learn the cause why they were thus thrown upon 
the world, — and then she would pour in the oil of 
consolation and endeavor to raise their drooping 
spirits, and to put hope into their hearts, and many 
a poor downcast soul has gone away blessing her for 
kind words, and apparently encouraged to take a 
new start in life. But oftentimes she would do 
much more than this. If it was evening when they 
came, or on the edge of the Sabbath, a bed would 
be provided for them, and if their clothing was rag- 
ged and filthy, as it often was, the stores of cast off 



73 

garments would be overhauled, and decent clothes 
given to them — they would be called in to worship 
with the family, and invited to the sanctuary, and 
to enjoy the rest of the Sabbath with them in their 
quiet home. And this was not done only once or 
twice ; numberless are the instances where the 
hungry and houseless have thus been comforted, 
and also the naked clothed. Could all who have 
thus from this poor Pastor's house been provided 
for, be gathered together, their number would doubt- 
less astonish even the generous donors themselves. 

Some years elapsed before their house was fin- 
ished according to its original design, and it was not 
until the summer of 1826 that the back rooms were 
lathed and plastered. The following extracts from 
Mr. Bartlett's diary will show how he viewed his 
home and his habit of looking upon all domestic 
comforts to be conducive to his usefulness as a 
minister : 

" 1826, 3rd June. I have had many little cares 
the past week in reference to our exertions in en- 
deavoring to finish three of our rooms in the house 
that have never yet been lathed and plastered, — 
may a divine blessing attend us in these exer- 
tions — may we be enabled to love and serve the Lord 
more diligently and faithfully in the house which he 
hath given us in proportion as it is rendered more 
convenient and comfortable." 

" Friday, 23rd of June. Our men have white- 
washed all the plastered rooms in the house and 
painted three rooms. Oh let us not be permitted to 
do these things to our earthly abode in the pride of 
our hearts, nor to gratify our selfish feelings, but for 
the honor of God the giver of our house and the 
T 



74 

Father of all blessings, realizing the need in which 
we stand of a house not made with hands eternal in 
the heavens." 

The character which Mr. Bartlett was enabled 
through so many years to sustain as a man was that 
of a consistent Christian. He was remarkable for 
an evenness of deportment as well through his youth 
as in his maturer years, and to the very close of his 
life. He seemed always to realise his accountability 
to God for all his conduct towards his fellow-men, 
and for all the motives of that conduct. He not only 
believed it to be wrong to indulge in harsh censure 
of his fellows, he felt that it was beneath the Chris- 
tian's character to indulge even harsh thoughts. 

In all his most private concerns he felt that it was 
his privilege as a child of God, to have the care and 
counsel of his Heavenly Father, and thus connect- 
ing the care and the will of God with his daily in- 
terests and his daily duties, he may be said truly to 
have traveled the path allotted to him with the sen- 
sible presence of his Almighty Friend, hallowing 
every scene and making even its darkest passes radi- 
ant with the light that streameth from heaven. 

To walk steadily in the strait and narrow path — 
to bear a pure, unspotted Christian character 
through a long life, amid the countless temptations 
which the world presents at every step, is no light 
matter — few are enabled to do it, and it can only be 
accomplished by leaning steadily on the arm of 
Jehovah. 

It may therefore be profitable for us as we look at 
this Christian man, to open the 'book where he has 



75 

left on record the secret thoughts of his heart, that 
we may learn what were his views of life, what his 
thoughts of duty to God and man, and what the 
main-spring of all his conduct. 

The following extracts taken from his diary, have 
been selected as appropriate to display his views and 
feelings on the great subjects of his duty to God 
and to man as a Christian and a minister of Jesus 
Christ : 

" When shall I acquire the divine art of using 
time, of living to my God, for my fellow-creatures, 
and for myself ! When shall I possess that firmness 
of mind which shall enable me to act at all times as 
if I realised that I am acting for eternity ! When 
shall I be so firmly and constantly habituated to the 
paths of virtue and the ways of wisdom, that no art 
or insinuation of a vain world shall draw me aside 
from my duty ! " 

" Few bring back at eve immaculate, the manners of the morn. 
Something we thought is blotted, we resolved, is shaken, we re- 
nounced, returns again." — Dk. Young. 

" Thus we have to lament at the close of every day 
our frailty, our wont of perseverance in the execu- 
tion of our resolutions. When will the time come 
when I shall in every respect do my duty and have 
no cause to repent of my folly ! " 

" Another day is numbered with my past hours I 
Shall I wish to recall it, that I may have an oppor- 
tunity to spend it again, hoping that I shall improve 
it to better advantage ! My frailty forbids the wish. 
Is not such a wish like the promises of those who 
when lying, as they supposed, upon a bed of death, 
have solemnly engaged that should they ever be re- 
stored to health they will live more devoted to God 
than they hitherto have done, that they will make 
the salvation of their souls the only important busi- 



76 

ness of their spared lives, and yet when recovered 
from their sickness have been more thoughtless than 
ever." 

" Such is the frailty and wretchedness of man. 
But blessed be God he can give strength to the 
weak, and enable them to overcome a vain and delu- 
sive world and the great adversary of man. None 
need despond who with all humility place their 
whole dependence on his almighty grace." 

" Another week is added to the past weeks of 

my life. What a diary does my conscience now wit- 
ness for this portion of my time? Might I have 
done more good than I have done ? Do I wish to 
spend every week of my life in the same manner ? 
Did I rise in the morning in such season as I ought ? 
Did I spend the mornings in such a manner as I 
ought ? Were my reflections in the evening such as 
were proper and effectual ? How did I behave to 
those who injured me ? Did I remember the great 
and important duty of forgiving injuries ? 

May my conscience be a faithful monitor at all 
times. 

May I never allow an action or word in myself, 
for which I should think lightly of another. 

May I ever be ' slow to anger,' and ready to for- 
give, and think favorably of the failings of others." 

" How fair, how excellent, how lovely is the 

queen of heaven. Religion I How perfectly does 
she by her principles support the soul under all its 
afflictions. How heart reviving and refreshing her 
influence ! How pure the joys which she bestows ! 
Shall one hour of her pleasure be given for all the 
riches this earth can boast ? The humble and holy 
soul disdains to make the comparison." 

" How sweet are my hours of retirement ! 

When withdrawn from the business and noise of the 
world I can look into my own heart and examine 
the state of aflairs with my soul, survey my past 



77 

actions and form resolutions of amendment in future. 
But may I never put confidence in my own strength, 
and rely solely on Him who is infinite in power." 

The social arrangements which Mr. Bartlett estab- 
lished in his family were all regulated in subser- 
viency to the divine precepts. 

The government of his family was far from being 
rigid ; he treated his children with the greatest 
familiarity, entering into all their plans, examining 
with them, all the reasons for or against a certain 
course, and encouraging them under every circum- 
stance to make perfect confidents of both their pa- 
rents. He was in the habit of conversing freely 
with them especially as they drew near to adult 
years, on the peculiar temptations to which they 
would be exposed, and thus guarding them against 
concealed dangers. His views in reference to their 
education for life, were somewhat peculiar ; he did 
not feel it his duty to mark out for his children the 
business they should follow, but rather threw them 
upon their own resources, advising with them and 
aiding them all in his power in that course which 
they seemed to prefer, and urging them at the 
same time to mark the leadings of Providence and 
thus endeavor to find out what was God's will con- 
cerning them. His great desire for them was that 
they might be useful, that they might glorify God, 
in whatever station they were placed. 

He kept a strong hold of his children by prayer, 
bearing them continually on his heart before God 
and more especially so if any peculiar circumstance 
in the life of either of them excited his interest. 
7* 



78 

The morning and evening worship in his family^ 
was always attended to with peculiar emphasis. 
The members of the family and persons providen- 
tially there whether as visitors, or laborers, were 
always expected to be present. A portion of scrip- 
ture was read in course by each one present, and 
then the notes and practical observations by Dr. 
Scott. A hymn was then sung, and the Head of 
the family or some one whom he might name led in 
prayer. Mr. Bartlett often took such opportunities 
for throwing out some remarks of his own, having 
reference to any peculiar circumstance which might 
have occurred or Avas about to occur. If it was 
evening, and he had been away through the day, he 
would recount the scenes he had witnessed, and 
notice any peculiar providences which had affected 
him, thereby adding much to the social interest of 
the scene. He took great delight in singing, and at 
times when the hymn was peculiarly striking, would 
sing the whole of it a second time, or a part of it. 

On the Sabbath, in addition to these exercises at 
the evening prayer, for many years and until all his 
children had grown up and nearly all removed to 
homes of their own, the whole, present, were ques- 
tioned through the Shorter Catechism. 

This was a custom which had been handed down 
through many generations, and which has been very 
generally in use among Christians in our country 
until within the last thirty years. But we doubt 
much whether a " more excellent way " has been 
adopted in its stead. It might, at times, appear to 
be a tedious and unnecessary repetition of the same 



79 

truths, but it brought those truths before the mind ; 
they became " fixed facts " in the memory, and there 
was by this mean a store laid up that the Spirit of 
God could at any time apply to the heart, and we 
hesitate not to say that whatever has been the cause 
for the present neglect of this part of family disci- 
pline, it need be able to point to a great deal of posi- 
tive good accomplished in order to atone for the loss 
to Christian families of this old Puritan custom. 

At an early age, all Mr. Bartlett's children, nine 
in number, have become hopefully pious and mani- 
fest in all the different places where their lot is cast, 
the same love for the truth as was instilled into 
them by their training at home. 

A few extracts from his daily record of events, 
will close this part of our view of his character and 
habits. 

" 18 — , October, 24th. We have been this after- 
noon and evening, very much pressed with company 
and cares, so that we did not retire to rest till 
eleven o'clock. Before going to rest we retired with 
our sons who we expect will go from us in the morn- 
ing to return to college, and spent a season of special 
instruction and special prayer with them.'' 

" October 25th. Our sons set out on their journey 
a little before eight o'clock. May the God who 
guarded us through the dangers and snares of youth, 
and fed us all our life thus far, and the Angel of the 
covenant that redeemed us from all evil, bless the 
lads, and let our name be named upon them, and the 
name of our fathers, so far as we and our fathers 
are the children of the God of Abraham." 

Mr. Bartlett's style of preaching was not calcu- 



80 

lated to please a fastidious taste ; he had never 
studied to adorn his discourses with the graces of 
elocution even from the first, and perhaps regarded 
with too much indifference the manner in which the 
truths which he wished to enforce were presented. 
It doubtless seemed to him all sufficient if he could 
say to his hearers, thus saith the Lord — and from 
a desire to make every proposition as plain as possi- 
ble, he enlarged upon each particular more perhaps 
than was necessary for the best effect ; and yet who 
can say that more finished compositions, a style more 
in unison with the refined taste of later years, 
would, upon the whole, have accomplished a greater 
amount of good ? 

The 'truth may be telling upon our hearts and 
consciences and doing its silent work there, although 
we may be weary of hearing its reiteration ; and 
perhaps not many country parishes can number 
through a course of fifty years, ten subjects of divine 
grace on an average, annually gathered into the 
church through the instrumentality of the usual 
preaching of the gospel. The effect of his ministra- 
tions has been rather conservative that quickening ; 
it has encouraged a quiet, orderly, and moral condi- 
tion among his flock ; it has encouraged fathers to 
be industrious in their avocations, kind and forbear- 
ing in their families, and mothers to be diligent in 
training their little ones to reverence the word of 
God, and the institutions of religion. 

During the last twenty-five years of his ministry, 
subjects of distracting interest have been agitated 
throughout the church in our land. The most 



81 

prominent of these have been temperance and aboli- 
tionism. The minds of men have been w^rought upon 
by those who have suffered either cause to absorb all 
other considerations, until divisions, and jealousies, 
and bitterness against brethren, have disturbed the 
peace of many congregations and rent them asun- 
der. But we have been preserved from these calami- 
ties ; distinguished as an advocate for temperance, 
and setting a Christian example in that respect, long 
before temperance societies were thought of; he 
stood on the same calm and steady platform while 
the storm was raging abroad and encouraged his 
hearers to acts of self-denial and to abstinence from 
every thing that could injure their usefulness as men 
and Christians, while he made no sweeping denun- 
ciations, nor abused those who could not enter 
wholly into his views. 

He had little faith, however, in temperance re- 
formation nor in any other kind of reformation that 
was not the fruit of a change of heart, so far as in- 
dividuals were concerned, although it was his hearty 
wish that the use of intoxicating liquors, as a bever- 
age, might be abandoned by the whole community. 

He hated slavery, and thought of it as an evil, a 
great evil ; a dark spot upon our fair land ; and he 
ever prayed that God in his wise providence, would 
order events for the removal of the curse, and yet he 
saw no such promise of good in the abolition move- 
ment, that authorised him to throw the firebrand of 
discord among his people, by waking up their pas- 
sions on the subject. His great idea on all such 
matters was, " disseminate Christian principles, 



82 

wake up the love of Christ in the minds of all, and 
the moral taints of society will melt away before it." 

His preaching was rather practical than doctrinal. 
He did not, indeed, keep back the prominent articles 
of our faith, but they were never brought out in 
their startling boldness, so as to lead the minds of 
his hearers to revolt at them or to create a disputa- 
tious spirit. He was fully conscious that " we now 
only see in part," that many things " were hard to 
be believed," and could never be made quite clear 
in our imperfect state — but " to love the Lord with 
all our heart and our neighbor as ourself," to repent 
heartily of sin, to lay hold on Jesus as the great 
Saviour of the soul, to do works meet for repentance, 
and to walk by faith on the Son of God. These 
were within the grasp of the mind and upon these 
he dwelt. 

But his preaching was not the only power which 
he used to accomplish the work committed to him. 
In his own language, in the discourses appended to 
this sketch, he has made a beautiful appeal to the 
flock of his charge in the summing up of his minis- 
terial labors — " I have thus been before you breth- 
ren as a minister of Jesus Christ, as a pastor, as a 
father, a husband, a neighbor, a friend, and a 
man." I have glanced at his services in the pulpit, 
and their results are before those who will read this 
sketch. We have not indeed been stimulated to do 
mighty things in attempts to batter down the king- 
dom of Satan, but we have in general, been at peace 
among ourselves, and perhaps present at this day as 



83 

fair a sample of an orderly Cliristian community as 
can be found in any district of the same size. 

In his ministrations as a pastor, he appeared among 
his people in the same character as when standing 
in the sacred desk, the same gentleness of manner, 
the same Christian courtesy, the same serious, devout 
instructor. He never put off the ambassador of 
Christ when mingling with the family circle, at the 
firesides of his people. He had a word of encour- 
agement for the desponding, a word of exhortation 
to the thoughtless, and to those who openly trans- 
gressed, his reproof and admonition were adminis- 
tered in the spirit of humility and love. Nor had 
he any partiality. All received from him the same 
tokens of his kindly feelings. He looked upon his 
flock as a father upon his children ; all might not 
equally meet his approbation, but all shared in his 
heart's interest. 

He had a very happy way of introducing subjects 
of serious moment in occasional visits, and no family 
of his people perhaps ever felt under any unpleasant 
restraint by his presence, or felt obliged to converse 
about serious things because their pastor was present. 
In visiting the sick he was untiring when he thought 
his visits were agreeable. In this matter he had 
made a change from the habit of his earlier years. 
It had been his custom, when first settled, and for 
many years, to call upon all persons in his parish 
whom he heard were attacked with dangerous sick- 
ness, but finding at times, that physicians had for- 
bidden any visiting at the side of the patient's bed, 
or that some other minister of Christ had been 



84 

called in, he adopted the plan of waiting until sent 
for, or until his prayers from the sacred desk had 
been requested, and pursued this plan in general to 
the last. 

On funeral occasions he was always prompt to the 
hour appointed, and from his sympathizing manner 
seemed to enter deeply into the feelings of the 
mourning family. His remarks on such occasions 
were generally much to the point. He never said 
flattering things about those for whom he had no 
hope, but leaving them in the hands of the great 
Judge, endeavored to turn the attention of surviv- 
ing friends towards preparation for their own de- 
parture, — and perhaps all who have been familiar 
with his ministrations in the house of mourning will 
respond to the assertion that he was more happy on 
such occasions than most ministers whom they have 
had opportunies of hearing, or than he himself was 
in his more studied services in the pulpit. Nor was 
it only in the house of mourning that Mr. Bartlett 
was enabled to appear before his people with appro- 
priate and timely services — his forte was perhaps full 
as distinguished when called upon to perform the 
nuptial rite. It was, indeed, apparently, the duty 
most congenial to him. He had a peculiar reverence 
and regard to the marriage relation, having himself 
enjoyed more happiness in the wedded life than falls 
to the lot of most men, he encouraged it in others, 
and looked upon it as the foundation of all that was 
good and pleasant in the social state, and who that 
has noticed his manner on such occasions does not 
remember the pleasant aspect of his countenance, 



85 

■the pressure of his warm grasp of congratulation, 
and the earnest instructions which he often dealt out 
to those whose fate for life he had linked together. 
It has been a custom among this people on taking 
possession of their new abode, to invite the pastor 
with other friends, that a blessing might be invoked 
upon the dwelling and its occupants — a happy cus- 
tom, and long may its observance be continued. 
To such invitations he responded with all his heart. 
Home was to him the name next dearest to heaven, 
the concentration of earth's blessings, and the place 
where the happiest preparation can be made for use- 
fulness here and blessedness hereafter. His prayer, 
therefore, at such times was no formal exercise, his 
words were the effusions of his heart, the outpour- 
ings of his earnest desires for heaven's richest bless- 
ings to descend and rest there ; and we cannot think 
such offerings have been in vain, nor that those 
dwellings thus consecrated have not received and 
are not now receiving, the answers to his sincere 
requests. 

There is one more duty connected with his pasto- 
ral service, that ought not to be passed over without 
mention. It was not a public service ; it was pev- 
formed alone, in the retirement of his study, in his 
wakeful hours of night. When his people were 
busy in their fields or enjoying the peaceful slumber 
that ''a day of toil has earned." Then family by 
family, name after name, would he borne by him to 
the throne of grace — not one was forgotten, but 
consecutively, at different times, made the special 
subjects of his intercession. Any that he had met 



86 

through the day with whom he had conversed, or 
transacted any business, whether the interview had 
been agreeable or of a trying nature, he made a 
point of praying for them in an especial manner. 

In all his dealings with his people, whether as a 
neighbor, or in any matter of business, those who 
knew him can testify to his ardent desire to act upon 
purely Christian principles, and to set an example 
of forbearance and liberality. He never bargained 
with any of his flock, leaving it to their sense of 
justice as to the price of any commodity which was 
brought to him for sale, or which he wished to pur- 
chase of them. 

His belief in a particular Providence was very 
strong. It entered into all his arrangements both 
of a public and private nature, and his views of the 
manner in which we should seek the care of Provi- 
dence, were peculiarly just. It was to consult the 
Lord at the very beginning. If his children or him- 
self were agitating any new step, he would arrange 
nothing, conclude upon nothing until he had com- 
mitted the matter to the Lord, and then watch care- 
fully for every intimation of the divine will. If it 
was a journey, and it had been decided upon, then 
his petition was for direction in appointing the time 
of departure and for a blessing on all the circum- 
stances. As his children, in turn, reached adult 
years and might be called upon at any time to act 
upon their own responsibility, he has been heard to 
say that he made even an afternoon's visit by them 
to a neighbor, a subject of prayer. " We know not," 
he would remark, " what an hours' call away from 



87 

home may result in ; the whole after course of their 
life may be changed by it," and as those who strictly 
mark the dealings of Providence, behold many won- 
derful instances of divine interposition, he could also 
recount remarkable answers to his strong petitions 
for the aid of his covenant God. 

One instance of a public nature as connected with 
the interests of the ecclesiastical society over which 
he was placed, may here very properly be mentioned. 
It was many years ago ; the principal actors have 
all gone to give up their account. A violent oppo- 
sition to the well-being of the society had been ex- 
cited mainly by the ill-will of one man. He had, 
however, in his day, quite an amount of influence, 
and there was no inconsiderable number of people 
belonging to the society ready to do his bidding. A 
meeting had been appointed. The friends of reli- 
gion and of good order were greatly alarmed, and on 
the day of the meeting, many of them called at the 
house of their Pastor, on their way thither, and ex- 
pressed their fears that the enemy would triumph. 
His heart, however, still clung to the hope that the 
Lord would frustrate all the designs of the wicked, 
and he encouraged them to trust likewise, and to be 
fearless in duty. As the hour approached for the 
meeting, large wagon loads of persons evidently bent 
upon mischief passed furiously along, and when op- 
posite the Pastor's house, gave full vent to their 
feelings in shouts and laughter. 

It was indeed a trying moment, and the great ad- 
versary appeared ready to overpower the friends of 
Christ. 



88 

When the hour had arrived for the meeting, Mr. 
Bartlett went into his study and there like Israel of 
old, wrestled with the Angel of the covenant. Time 
passed unheeded by him, and while yet upon his 
knees, the wagons began to pass on their way from 
the assembly, and presently he was called for from 
his retirement. At once he came, and was met by 
a cordial grasp of the hand, from one of those who 
had parted from him in so much despondency — " Mr. 
Bartlett" — the tear had started, and the good man 
found it difficult to get out his words — " Mr. Bart- 
lett, I believe you must have been praying for us. 
It seems all like a miracle — the enemy that was so 
bold and threatening without, had nothing to say at 
the meeting, and they could do nothing. The 
friends of the church feel stronger now than ever. 
The Lord be praised." 

He was a wise counselor, and a true friend to all 
his people who came to him in their difficulties. 
He faithfully kept their secrets, and gave such ad- 
vice as his Christian principles dictated, in all cases 
endeavoring to throw oil upon the waters of strife, 
and to give true consolation to the wounded spirit. 
Perhays none ever went to him under any circum- 
stances of trouble that did not go away with a 
lighter heart, with their sore spirits soothed by his 
calm and kind manner, and his gentle exhortations 
to trust in God and serve him with a pure heart. 

His treatment of those who lived in the open vio- 
lation of some of the commandments of the Lord, 
was of such a nature as never to drive them from 
him. He rebuked their sins as he had opportunity,, 



89 

while his kind and affectionate notice of them, when 
they came in his way, disarmed them of all hard 
feelings, and caused them to respect in his person 
the religion he professed. Often has the writer 
heard such persons speak of him with much rever- 
ence, and while calling professors of religion in 
general, "all to naught," they would say, "If all 
men were like Mr. Bartlett, they might believe there 
was something in religion." A poor excuse indeed 
for their own disobedience, and an evidence that 
they could discern between the righteous and the 
wicked. In this he doubtless walked in the foot- 
steps of his master who went about among publi- 
cans and sinners, and while warning them to flee 
from the wrath to come, ceased not to pity their dis- 
tresses, and did them good as he had opportunity. 

His attention to the children of his flock was also 
a peculiarity in his ministrations that has done much 
in accomplishing his work, and implanted an inter- 
est for him in the hearts of very many which will 
never die away. He never passed a child without 
especial notice, and for many years could call any 
child among his people by name. 

He walked before his people a living example of 
true religion. His path was a plain, steady path of 
unaffected piety. The tongue of scandal was never 
heard against him, it could find no stain upon his 
pure character, to feed its malignity. He never 
wandered into a dubious path, nor did an act of 
questionable character. He loved his people — he 
did his best for tlieir temporal and eternal welfare, 



90 

and his record is in many hearts on earth, and we- 
doubt not, well registered in heaven. 

Fifty years is a long period in the relations of life, 
and seldom is it exceeded, — and the providence of 
God had determined that the pastoral connection of 
his Servant to the people he had so long watched 
over, should be brought to a close, and its results 
sealed up. 

The last public services which Mr. Bartlett per- 
formed were in the month of Dec. , 1854. An appoint- 
ment had been made for the consecration of a house 
of worship, at Broad Brook. It was a stormy day, 
one of the worst of the season, and he being the only 
minister present on the occasion, all the service de- 
volved upon him. On the following Sabbath he was 
invited to preach there, and although then suffering 
from his previous exposure, he went through the 
duties of the day. A severe attack of influenza 
succeeded, from which he appeared partially to re- 
cover, and from which his physician hoped he would 
be finally relieved in the opening spring. By those 
who were about him, however, fears began to be en- 
tertained that the disease was gradually undermin- 
ing his constitution. 

To himself these signs were not so evident — he 
felt no pain — his appetite was good, and his mind 
enjoyed its usual elasticity. Life had many endear- 
ments to him even on the shore of eternity — his 
house was still the abode of pleasantness and peace, 
— ^his children and friends still had a warm place in 
his heart — the faces of his people had the same 
charm as ever, and above all she was about him, who 



91 

had been the object of unchanging aifection from 
the time when in youth he won her love. Her smile 
still gladdened him, and her winning ways were even 
more sacredly dear to him than ever. No wonder 
then if his heart still lingered where he had been so 
long, and enjoyed so much. 

But when the returning spring brought no vigor 
to his system, and his wasting frame began to assure 
him that his food did not impart its accustomed 
nourishment, he readily yielded to the sign that his 
Master had no more work for him here, and that it 
was his will that he should depart hence. The as- 
surance changed not the current of his feelings — it 
broke not one tender chord that bound him to life. 
He had held every friend, and all other blessings, as 
the gifts of his Heavenly Father, and was fully pre- 
pared to acquiesce in the command, to strike his 
tent and bid adieu to the scenes of earth. 

His worldly matters were easily arranged, and he 
had but little to do in putting his house in order — 
for he had lived wisely — no debts had been incurred, 
and although he knew that at his death his beloved 
wife would be dependent upon the little property 
they had by prudence preserved, he would not allow 
a word of distrust to be spoken in his presence. 

He had no special preparation to make on his own 
account. — he had been doing that for sixty years, and 
had no new arrangements to trouble himself with. 
He conversed freely about the event that was ap- 
proaching, with the same calmness as was usual 
with him in reference to any concern in life. 

By degrees he gave up his duties as the head of a 



92 

family, as he had done those of the pastor of his 
flock, having placed in the hands of his colleague, 
the Rev. Mr. Andrews, the book of records belong- 
ing to the church, which for fifty years he had faith- 
fully kept. The morning and evening service at the 
family altar was the last duty he resigned, having 
continued it for some time after he was too feeble to 
stand ; his usual posture at family prayers. Still he 
was not confined to his bed, nor did he relinquish 
his interest in the affairs of his household, although 
he had ceased to regulate ; but expressed continued 
satisfaction in having all things go on as they had 
ever done. 

Letters from his children had been a source of 
great comfort to him for many years ; as the most of 
them were far away, and the only communion they 
could hold together* was by writing. This pleasure 
he enjoyed to the last ; and when the letters were 
read to him, he sympathised apparently as much in 
all their expressions of love for him, and their Heav- 
enly Father, as he ever had ; and to all of them he 
would dictate some word of comfort and encourage- 
ment. 

At length the hour arrived that he could " go no 
more in and out," in that abode where he had so 

long dwelt. On Sabbath morning, the he 

arose as usual, and dressed himself, but soon laid 
aside his garments and composed himself upon the 
bed, from which he felt he was no more to arise. 
Hearing what had taken place, the writer of this 
immediately repaired to his bed-side, for he knew 
that his hour must be near at hand. 



93 

" My Dear Son : — 1 am glad to see yon — you are 
dear to me as the rest of my children," and opening 
his arms gave him an affectionate embrace. 

I am going, my son, the way of all the earth, l)ut 
all the days of my appointed time I will wait until 
my change come — I have great peace of mind — 
greater than I can express. Oh, the goodness of the 
Lord ! I can not tell how much I enjoy, and have 
ever enjoyed since the first hour I put my trust in 
the Lord." 

As soon as it was known that his end was near at 
hand, all his children who could leave their homes, 
flocked to him, that they might with their own hands 
minister to his weakness, and day and night they 
were about his bed, attending to every wish, admin- 
istering to every necessity, and doing all that loving 
hearts could do, to smooth each roughness from his 
path, and make his passage into eternity as easy as 
mortal love could make it. 

It was a dying scene undisturbed by regrets or 
remorse — they had been brought up in love and obe- 
dience — they had walked together in harmony and 
peace — all had been trained to submission to the 
divine will— and though the tears would fall as they 
bent over his emaciated frame, yet they were only 
such as love must weep when dear earthly ties are 
sundering. 

His people, too, flocked in to see him and offer 
their aid. Some of them at the first he was able to 
converse with and bid farewell ; but as his weakness 
increased, the effort to speak aloud became too pain- 
ful to allow of this privilege, and it was thought 
best to deny admission to his room, and in one or 



94 

two instances with great reluctance this was ad- 
hered to ; but when the dying pastor heard that some 
of his people had been there and gone without see- 
ing him, he requested that all who came might be 
permitted to take their last look at him in life, 
although he could not speak to them ; and many a 
sad but much loved countenance passed before him, 
and doubtless received his blessing although he lay 
mute as in the attitude of death. 

His brethren in the ministry came also to say fare- 
well to one who had so long stood with them on the 
walls of Zion ; and he rejoiced to see them and to 
listen to their prayers. To one of them who had in 
his petition, prayed that God would sustain his serv- 
ant " through the dark valley of the shadow of 
death," Mr. Bartlett remarked when his friend arose 
and stood by him, 

" Brother , I believe you have misquoted 

that passage of scripture — it is ' the valley of the 
shadow of death ' — not the dark valley." 

The error was at once acknowledged. 

"And you do not find it so. Brother Bartlett?" 
" Oh no ! far from it — blessed be God, it is not 
dark— Oh no ! " 

And blessed be God, let all say, who have hope in 
Jesus Christ. That valley lieth too near the con- 
fines of his own glorious habitation. Shadows in- 
deed rest upon it, but there are always beams of liglit 
streaming through the dark mantle, and throwing 
their heavenly radiance around the trembling spirit. 
Oh no ! It is not dark to those who have com- 
mitted the keeping of their souls to Jesus. 



95 

And on Jesus, this servant of God kept a firm and 
steady hold to the very last. No fear, no doubt, no 
cloud, dimmed his clear vision, or troubled his pass- 
ing spirit. He watched with a firm look the steady 
approach of death, marking his own pulse, and fol- 
lowing the life current as it drooped and retrograded 
to the heart. 

And thus he sunk to rest. 

At length, the day arrived which was to witness 
the last tokens of affection by a whole parish, to him 
who had been for fifty years their spiritual teacher, 
their warm friend, and their honest adviser. 

It was a beautiful summer morning, and by eleven 
o'clock, all who were able to leave their homes, be- 
longing to his own parish, had assembled at the old 
meeting-house, and with them many from neigh- 
boring parishes, for his name was revered far beyond 
the bounds of his own charge. 

Relations and intimate friends had gathered 
within the mansion where the deceased lay, with 
many of the neighboring clergy. By one of the lat- 
ter a prayer was offered in the house of mourning, 
and then the coffin, with its sacred deposit, was 
borne off towards the house of God. 

As the sad procession reached the church, it 
passed through a double row of those who wished 
to pay the highest token of respect to the remains of 
the departed. They were uncovered, and their 
drooping heads manifested the real sympathy their 
hearts felt — and as the precious burden was borne 
up the stairs and into the. aisle, many a strong arm 
was stretched forth to aid in bearino- it with as little 



96 

disturbance to the pale, cold sleeper, as could pos- 
sibly be. 

Beneath the desk where the deceased had so often 
ministered, sufficiently elevated for all to see, the 
corpse was placed at rest. 

The choir sung its funeral ode. A prayer was 
offered up by the Rev. Samuel J. Andrews, the as- 
sociate pastor of the church, followed by a discourse 
from the Rev. Dr. Tyler, of East Windsor Theologi- 
cal Institute, and the services closed by a prayer 
from Rev. Dr. Bedell, of Hartford. 

The religious service being over, the coffin-lid was 
turned down and an opportunity offered to all pres- 
ent for a last view of him they had known and 
loved in life. In solemn procession the whole con- 
gregation passed before the silent dead — and as they 
cast their eye upon those well-remembered features, 
many an aged one would pause and take a lingering 
look, and then with clasped hands and falling tears, 
pass on their way. Death had robbed them of one 
whose place in their hearts could never be filled 
again. 

Once more the lid of the coffin is closed, and 
closed forever — and the long procession follows to 
the grave. 

Ashes to ashes, and dust to dust, and the mortal 
remains of the beloved pastor are shut away from 
human view, while his flock departs each to his sepa- 
rate home, to ponder on the closing scene of that 
connection which had bound them to the departed 
for more than half a century. 



SERMON 



[The following sermon was prepared by Mr. Bartlett for the fiftieth 
■anniversary of his pastoral charge. Indisposition prevented his deliver- 
ing it at the time, nor was he ever able so to do. The Sabbath after his 
funeral it was read to the congregation by his son-in-law, the Rev. Sam- 
uel R. Brown.] 

HEBREWS, 13: 7, 17. 
" Remember them wuich have the rule over you, who have 

SPOKEN UNTO TOU THE WORD OP GOD. ObEY THEM THAT 
HAVE THE RULE OVER TOU AND SUBMIT YOURSELVES, FOR 
THEY WATCH FOR YOUR SOULS AS THEY THAT MUST GIVE 
ACCOUNT, THAT THEY MAY DO IT WITH JOY AND NOT WITH 
GRIEF." 

Fifty years ago, according to the united invitation 
of the church and society which then existed in this 
place, I took, with divine help I hope, the infinitely 
important office of a spiritual watchman over their 
souls, under the great watchman of Israel. On that 
interesting day, my watchmanship here was all in 
prospect, — all in the future. Now, fifty years of it 
are past and have become a deeply interesting his- 
tory in the book of records of the heart-searching 
"Judge of all the Eo.rth." 

The first sermon that I preached in this same 
house, as the ordained pastor of the church and 
congregation then here, was from those solemn 
words addressed by Jehovah to his prophet Ezekiel, 
and recorded in the 33d chapter and 7th verse of the 
9 



98 

book written by that prophet, thus, '' So thou, oh ! 
son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the 
house of Israel ; therefore thou shalt hear the word 
at my mouth, and warn them from me." 

In all my ministrations of instruction and warn- 
ing in all the " concerns of life and godliness," in 
private and in public, amongst this people, it has 
been my endeavor, with watchfulness and prayer, 
relying on the aid of the Holy Spirit, to speak and 
act according to the principles contained in those 
words. The same principles of truth are compre- 
hended in the words of the apostle which I have 
chosen for my text on the present occasion, though 
they were put upon record, as the word of God, six 
hundred and fifty-two years after those were written 
by the prophet. 

It is the word of God alone which gives authority to 
any pastor, to any spiritual watchman. If any speak 
not according to this word, as God sees it, it is be- 
cause that so far as they deviate from it, as he sees 
it and has revealed it, there is no light of truth in 
them. "And have ye not spoken a lying divination ? " 
saith God to such, " whereas ye say the Lord said it ; 
albeit I have not spoken." If in my professed 
preaching to you in public, or in my professed teach- 
ing you in private, I have spoken anything to you 
which was not, in His sight, according to the word 
of God in its purity, you are under no obligation to 
obey it. 

My object in addressing you on this occasion is, 
as far as I am able, to give you, with the help of 
God, a history of my watch over this church and 



99 

people, and of the eflfects of my watchful care and 
labors over those whom the great watchman of Is- 
rael has committed to my care, during fifty years 
past, that is, from the fifteenth day of February, in 
the year of our Lord, eighteen hundred four, to the 
fifteenth day of February, in the year of our Lord, 
eighteen hundred fifty-four. 

In the forms of language used in the sacred scrip- 
tures, we are taught that it is proper to call the 
church and congregation, or Ecclesiastical Society, 
assembled here to-day, the same church and society 
who met in this sacred house fifty years ago, by 
whose desire I took upon myself, under Grod, the 
office of a spiritual watchman ; although almost all 
who were twenty years of age then, and many who 
were under twenty, are either gone into eternity or 
to other places for the enjoyment of the privileges 
of the gospel, or to other places, (painful thought,) 
habitually to neglect these precious privileges, or to 
be led astray from the right way by those who teach 
the " inventions of men " instead of the word of 
God. 

There are but six men now living and members of 
this society who were living and acting members of 
the society fifty years ago, and were then over twenty- 
one years of age. (Messrs. Daniel Phelps, John 
Bancroft, Daniel Allen, Stephen Potwine, Gains 
Booth and Lawrence Bissell,) and there is but one 
member of the church, (Mrs. Wareham Crane,) 
now living, that was a resident member of it fifty 
years ago. And not one of you who hear me to-day, 
who is not more than fifty years of age, lieard the 



100 

first sermon I preached in this sacred house as the 
Pastor of this church and society. Oh, how changed 
the places and conditions of those who are gone of 
this assembly who gathered to hear the preaching of 
the gospel in this house fifty years ago ! and how 
changed the faces and conditions of those that re- 
main of that assembly and are here this day ! 

On the tenth day of January, fifty-one years ago 
the present winter, eight weeks after the death of 
their revered and beloved pastor, Mr. Thomas Pot- 
wine, this society held a meeting in which they ap- 
pointed an agent, (Caleb Booth, Esq.,) to go to the 
Hartford North Association to ask their advice con- 
cerning the procuring of a candidate to come and 
preach to them on probation as their future pastor, 
if the Lord should direct it to be so. Nine days after 
this, after this advice had been asked and received, 
this agent came to me with the request that I would 
come and preach to this people on those conditions. 

The ministers of this association were then engaged 
supplying this destitute church and people, endeav- 
oring, as far as they were able, to make up the sal- 
ary to the widow of their deceased pastor till the 
first of May, the end of the year, as was the custom 
in those days. 

As soon as the way seemed to be opened by Di- 
vine Providence, I came and preached several months 
among you, during the last few weeks of which time 
your fathers prepared and brought to me an invita- 
tion that I would take, under the great and good 
Shepherd, the charge of a pastor over them. 

After due time spent in secret meditation and ask- 



101 

iiig the advice of human friends, studying tlie lan- 
guage of God's Providence and asking for His wis- 
dom to guide me, I sent an affirmative answer to 
your invitation, — that I was willing to become, with 
the help of God, your spiritual watchman. 

You have my answer in full in the records of your 
society, which I need not here repeat. Very soon 
after this the time was appointed and other prepara- 
tions made to have my ordination take place on the 
fifteenth day of February, in the year of our Lord^ 
eighteen hundred four. 

A day which has been, ever since its appointmenty 
a solemn day to my mind and my heart for fifty year& 
past, and a day which I shall remember when you 
and I and many who have gone before us into eter- 
nity, shall appear at the last day of time, at the 
judgment seat of Christ ; yea, a day which I and 
many others will remember during all the ages of 
eternity with more and more vivid interest. 

Among other preparations for my ordination, this 
church and society cheerfully, and I was told unan- 
imously, according to my request and according to 
the custom of our forefathers and apostolic example, 
appointed and kept a day of fasting and prayer a few 
days previous ; and it is proper that I should here 
introduce the vote of the church in reference to this. 

" Voted, that in concurrence with the desire of 
the pastor elect, and agreeable to the pious custom 
of our forefathers on like occasions, to set apart 
Thursday, the 9th day of February next, to be ob- 
served as a day of fasting and prayer preparatory to 
the ordination ; to implore the presence and aid of 
our Lord Jesus Christ, the great head of the church, 
9* 



102 

that he would humble us under the late frowns of 
His Providence, and make us sensible of our entire 
dependence on Him ; that He would ' heal our back- 
slidings and love us freely ; ' that He would own 
and abundantly bless this His own institution ; that 
he would pour out His spirit and blessing on His 
servant, the pastor elect, and on this church and so- 
ciety, that they may become a holy, and in that way 
a happy people ; that the pastor elect and this church 
and society may be mutual blessings to each other 
for a great while to come. Voted to invite the soci- 
ety to join with us herein." 

This vote was prepared and recorded by one who 
was, at the time it was passed, one of the fathers in 
the church, (Mr. Samuel Bartlett,) and according 
to the spirit of the prayer here expressed, very great 
blessings have been bestowed upon the descendants 
of the good man who wrote it, and upon many oth- 
ers who have been connected with them in the en- 
joyment of the privileges of the gospel, by the rich 
grace of God in Christ. The season of fasting and 
prayer was kept with solemnity, and at the ap- 
pointed time the ordaining council assembled, (not 
one of which is now alive on the earth,) the pastor 
elect was examined and unanimously approved by 
them, and the solemn services of the ordination were 
performed to the edification of a numerous assembly, 
by far the greatest part of which are now in eternity. 

This ordaining council did not convey to me any 
authority over this people, as your pastor or spiritual 
watchman. The iSeaning of their transactions is, 
that having examined me as to my qualifications to 
preach the gospel and administer its ordinances, and 
perform the duties of a pastor, and the invitation of 



103 

this people that 1 would dwell permanently among 
them to do these services, and my hearty compliance 
with this invitation, they gave it, and thus publicly 
sanctioned it, as their judgment that the Providence 
of God plainly called me, by the influence of his 
word and spirit, to take the office of a spiritual watch- 
man over those who had invited me to do so and 
over others connected with them. Now since I was 
not self sent, but approved by the best judges which 
the nature of the case allowed, amongst my fellow 
men, as one qualified by the providence and by the 
spirit of God to be a minister of Jesus Christ, 
among you, and with godly sincerity and as far as I 
have preached the truths of the gospel and adminis- 
tered its ordinances without any dangerous criminal 
additions or diminutions of human inventions, I have 
had, for fifty years past, and still have authority in 
the visible church of Christ, not from men, but from 
the truths of God, which, with his help, I have 
preached and loved and obeyed among you. And 
from these truths I have authority from their divine 
author, and this is the authority to which the apostle 
Paul exhorts mankind to submit, and the disobedi- 
ence to which will cause " grief" when men give up 
their account at the last day. 

" Indeed," says an eminently godly minister, 
'' the exercise of authority by evangelical pastors, 
consists not in giving laws or publishing doctrines of 
their own inventions, or in exercising any authority 
of their own, but in explaining, establishing and de- 
fending the laws and doctrines of Christ, and incul- 
cating them on the consciences and hearts of men by 



104 

Christ's sole authority ; and exemplifying them in 
their holy faith and holy conversation, according to 
what they have received by their commission, and 
can prove that they have received them from Him 
as contained in his word. All pretences to author- 
ity in and from the church beyond this, is really an 
usurpation, an anti-christian lordship, instead of be 
ing entirely subordinate, as it ever ought to be, to 
the authority of Christ." 

I thought, at that season of solemn fasting and 
prayer, mentioned above, that the Spirit of God did 
guide our fathers, and whoever of others then united 
with them in their solemn supplications at that 
time ; and fifty years of experience have confirmed 
me in my judgment, that it pleased God to help our 
fathers and others with them to pray for those bless- 
ings which he has been pleased from that time to 
this day to bestow on us and our children, and others 
who have enjoyed with us the blessings of his re- 
deeming love. Whatever I speak to you to-day, 
mentioning what I have spoken and done rightly 
amongst you during fifty years past as a watchman 
under Christ, over the souls of my charge, I have 
done with the help of his grace, and the praise of it 
all belongs to God, and trust that God helps me to 
feel the highest joy concerning it, when the glory of 
it is all ascribed to him. 

I have habitually taught you in public and in pri- 
vate, that the right performance of sacred music, 
that is, the singing of '' psalms and hymns and spir- 
itual songs," is an highly important part of true re- 
ligion, for instruction and comfort to the soul ; and 



105 

that we mav Imve the full benefit of it, it ought to 
be done skillfully and in the fear of God as the 
Psalmist David directs. And for the honor of God, 
and my great gratification, this church and society 
have been in the way of making special efforts to 
perpetuate and increase useful skill among your- 
selves in this department. And for this purpose you 
have hired, once in a few years, either from amongst 
yourselves, or from abroad, a skillful teacher of 
sacred singing. And it has been my practice gener- 
ally, till within a very few years past, when you have 
thus hired a teacher, to meet with the choir and 
learn to sing with them and give them some appro- 
priate instructions concerning the temper of heart 
and frame of mind with which we ought to sing 
sacred songs so as to be accepted of God in our sing- 
ing ; and to close these meetings with prayer. And 
so happily has the blessing of God attended these 
special efforts to increase our practical skill in sing- 
ing sacred songs, that in as many as in eight or ten 
instances, during my ministry among you, a special 
revival of religion has very soon followed these 
special seasons of the revival of our practical skill 
in singing songs of praise to God. In these songs 
of Zion, we sing the doctrines, the laws, the warn- 
ings, the precepts and instructions which teach the 
scheme of truth contained in the word of God, so 
far as they are faithfully drawn from the fountain of 
God's written revelation — yea they teach us the way 
of salvation by Christ ; and much of the saints' ex- 
perience in their pilgrimage through this world, and 
their triumphant entrance immediately after death 



106 

with the spirits of just men made perfect in holiness, 
into the active and glorions employments of their 
eternal home in the heavens. Of these precious 
seasons of refreshing from the presence of the Lord, 
that is, revivals of religion by which this church has 
been continued, and from time to time, within fifty 
years past, been greatly nourished, increased in num- 
bers, and enriched in its useful influence at home 
and abroad, I shall endeavor to speak more particu- 
larly during my address to you this day. 

When I took my station among you as your pas- 
tor, the clerk of the church put into my hands the 
book of church records, which I have used ever 
since, containing a list of the names of the men 
only, who were then members of the church. 

The number was thirty-two. It stands recorded 
in the hand- writing of the clerk of this church, fifty 
years ago, that the records of this church from its 
first formation till the death of its first pastor. Rev. 
Thomas Potwine, which took place November 15th, 
1802, are all lost. 

As I had opportunity I sought out the names of 
those women who were then members of this church, 
which are found to be twenty-four ; so that the 
whole number of the members then was fifty-six. 
Since that time five hundred and twenty-four have 
been added : four hundred and fifty-two from 
amongst ourselves, and seventy-two by recommenda- 
tion from other churches. Of these, one hundred 
and seventy-six have been regularly dismissed and 
recommended to other churches. Five have been 
excommunicated as incorrigible apostates, and one 



107 

hundred and fifty-two have died. Some of the rest 
have gone to places unknown to us, and have lost 
their regular standing with us. So that there are 
not more than one hundred and sixty-four who are 
regularly members of this church at the present 
time. 

Fifty years ago there was but one house for public 
worship within the limits of this ecclesiastical society, 
and there were but two till 1827 ; and at one time 
during that period, there were two hundred and 
ninety members of this church. But now there are 
six houses for public worship within our limits ; 
two Congregational, two Episcopal, and two Metho- 
dist — and some of the members of our former con- 
gregations have, of course, gone from us to aid in 
building up the others. 

The first revival of religion which I enjoyed with 
you of any considerable extent, was in the years of 
our Lord 1807 and 1808, when from the fruits of it, 
between thirty and forty hopefully new-born souls 
were added to this church. Some of the oldest 
members of this church who are now living, remem- 
ber it with gratitude to God, as influencing them to 
make a public profession of their faith in Christ. 

The judgments of God manifested in permitting 
embarrassments in the commercial concerns of the 
nations of Europe, with whom our nation was neces- 
sarily and essentially connected, which greatly em- 
barrassed, and straitened, and afflicted us in our 
daily necessities and comforts in the departments of 
food and raiment, greatly tried the people of God, 
and brought them often to the throne of grace as 



108 

the only source of relief, and then the rumors of 
war, and after a few years, war in reality, between 
these United States and England, with all its horrors 
and sufferings ; waste of the bounties of God, cruel- 
ties and wrong, heaven-provoking crimes ; a war 
considered by many of the wisest men in our country 
wholly unnecessary, was permitted to come upon us 
as a mysteriously righteous scourge of God. And 
soon after the close of these scenes of horror, our 
righteous and holy Sovereign saw fit to visit us with 
some very afflicting instances of sickness and death. 
These mingled judgments of God were the means, 
under the Holy Spirit's influence, of bringing his 
people to search the scriptures with increasing fre- 
quency, and to feel the word of God, whether read 
or heard, with increasing power upon the conscience 
and the heart. Under such influences the word of 
God was preached with increasing plainness, and was 
powerfully applied to the consciences of sinners, to 
bring them to feel their guilty character and lost 
condition, and to see that there was no way for them 
to escape the just and eternal wrath of God, but to 
trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as the only Saviour 
of sinners. Under these influences Christians were 
restored from their departings from God, and ex- 
cited to pray more fervently, and with increasing 
strength of faith and importunity, and to hope for 
answers to diligent and persevering prayer, from 
Him who taught and helped them to believe, that 
He is both able and willing to give the Holy Spirit 
to those who sincerely ask for his influences to carry 
on his work of convincing and converting sinners, 



109 

and of strengthening the faith and all the holy affec- 
tions of the children of God. 

The last week in August, and the first week in 
September this year, the year of our Lord 1816, 
sinners amongst ufe began to make known their con- 
victions of sin, which some of them had felt, but 
had kept to themselves for weeks, and earnestly to 
inquire, saying, "what shall I do to be saved ?'^ 
There were no extraordinary means used to produce 
or to continue this precious season of refreshing from 
the presence of the Lord, except that Christians 
spake oftener one to another and prayed more fre- 
quently and with greater importunity, and the word 
of God was preached more frequently and more 
pungently than when there is no revival of relig- 
ion ; because the Holy Spirit was especially with us 
to move us effectually to put our reason and con- 
science and the affections of our hearts to their 
proper uses in the service of God, and the enjoy- 
ment of the blessings of his redeeming love. This 
precious revival of pure religion, by the rich grace 
of God, continued for nearly two years. It was the 
effect of the still but powerful working of the Holy 
Spirit, doing the work of reconciling sinners to God 
by his own appointed means, guiding them " into all 
truth," strengthening them in duty in their ap- 
pointed stations, and ripening them for eternal, active 
usefulness and happiness in his service. 

This revival was the most extensive in useful in- 
fluence, the most thorough, and of the longest con- 
tinuance and the most unmingled with special trials 
of any that I have ever experienced among this peo- 
10 



no 

pie. It continued from its first public appearance 
in August, 1816, for nearly two years, till by its 
precious fruits, more than one hundred hopeful con- 
verts were added to this church by profession, from 
the congregation here. Many of them were then 
heads of rising families, who have since that happy 
scene, brought them up " in the nurture and admo- 
nition of the Lord," and had the joy of seeing many 
of them walking in the truth. And a considerable 
number of them who were then unmarried, have 
since that precious harvest season, become heads of 
families and brought up children in the fear of the 
Lord, who are now in various parts of the world, 
exhibiting the light of the Christian example to 
" glorify our Father who is in heaven." For more 
than a year during that revival, I was strengthened 
of God to preach twice every Sabbath, and some 
Sabbaths three times, without any help from my 
reverend brethren abroad, except three or four Sab- 
baths, and generally twice and sometimes three times 
during the week. During this time of refreshing, 
we enjoyed the preaching of the gospel except on 
the Lord's day, either in the district school-houses 
or at private houses, and wherever the gospel was 
preached, whether in private or public, there were 
full and solemn assemblies, many of whom seemed 
heartily desirous to be fed with the food of divine 
truth, because they were led by the Spirit of God. 
Indeed, it seemed for many weeks as though the 
sensible presence of God, the holy, lieart-searching 
God, filled the minds of the whole church and the 
whole congregation, which was then very numerous, 



Ill 

so that every one was ready to say, " Lo God is here 
of a truth." Every one who came to hear the gospel 
preached was ready to speak on their personal obli- 
gations to become reconciled to God. But the fruits 
of this revival were not confined to the private, per- 
sonal experience and domestic duties of its happy 
subjects, though it built up many a family in the 
practice of family prayer, and seasoned with the love 
of God the scenes of many family circles, and 
brought many souls to the practice of praying in 
secret, to their Father who seeeth in secret and re- 
wardeth openly. As effects of this happy increase of 
the power of religion amongst this people, their hearts 
were enlarged, and their hands were happily opened 
to the works of Christian benevolence at home and 
abroad. 

Other churches, and other people also, at this 
time, felt their hearts enlarged to go about doing 
good. Until after the year 1818, I believe there 
was no public contribution for any purpose, per 
mitted to be gathered in this State without special 
leave from the Legislature. That leave was granted 
annually in May, for a number of years, only for a 
contribution to the Connecticut Missionary Society. 
But about that time that prohibition was wisely re- 
moved, and the spirit of Christian benevolence was 
allowed to pursue its happy course as freely in pub- 
lic as in private. And since that, tlie precious prin- 
ciple of the religion of Christ, the love of doing good, 
has devised and sustained, under God, a great variety 
of benevolent enterprises, both by public and private 
aid, by which many branches of his heavenly vine 
have been planted ; many houses for his public wor- 



112 

ship have been builded ; many young men have been 
qualified and sustained as faithful ministers of 
Christ ; many millions of copies of the Holy Scrip- 
tures have been sent and read among the destitute, 
and millions of souls saved from the evils of sin, by 
being reconciled to God, and prepared to be forever 
happy and useful in loving and serving him. 

The first contribution for missionary operations 
that was gathered amongst you after I became your 
pastor, was in May, 1804, and was $22.46. The 
first contribution gathered in this society for Foreign 
Missions, was a private donation from the Ladies' 
Benevolent Society, of six dollars, in 1817, and the 
first public contribution for that object was at a 
prayer meeting, in 1819, when ten dollars was con- 
tributed ; and the same year the Female Benevo- 
lent Society contributed to the same object, thirty- 
five dollars ; and in 1821, the Men's Benevolent So- 
ciety contributed to the same object, $107.00. And 
now the various other benevolent societies that were 
formed for extending the blessings of the gospel 
amongst the destitute and perpetuating them 
amongst others, call forth your offerings to the Lord, 
to aid in their prosperity; societies for publishing 
and circulating the Bible in our own language, and 
in a great variety of other languages ; societies for 
publishing and distributing other books and other 
printed papers in a great variety, containing the 
truths of the written word of God ; societies for the 
preparation of young men for the ministry of the 
gospel, and other societies and means operating in 
brotherly love with these, to promote the reconcilia- 



113 

tion of sinners to God, have received your cheerful 
contributions, while the Holy Spirit, by these instru- 
mentalities, has reconciled to God, and established 
in the way of salvation from sin, hundreds of thou- 
sands of souls both in the heathen and in civilized 
nations, and the way has become opened for the free 
preaching of the gospel to almost every nation on 
the earth. 

This church and society have contributed for fifty 
years past, annually, more or less to this cause of 
Christian benevolence, and more especially for thirty- 
six of these years, since 1818, when the way became 
greatly enlarged for such modes of doing good. I 
need not specify your doings in these things for each 
year, for of these things we must give account of our 
stewardship, each of us at the last day of time. 

You have given during these years, from twenty- 
two dollars, to a little more than four hundred dol- 
lars in a year. 

These exertions of the friends of Christ has the 
Holy Spirit made effectual for wonderfully increas- 
ing the light and power of the gospel during the last 
fifty years, both in Christendom and in heathen na- 
tions, by which the works of darkness and counsels 
of the wicked have very extensively been brought to 
light and defeated. One whole nation of idolaters 
has been brought to submit to Christ as his rightful 
subjects, to their rightful Sovereign. This increase 
of the influence of the gospel amongst the nations, 
has made the social intercourse among the nations 
and families of the earth vastly greater and more 
useful and happy, and is happily preparing the way 
10* 



114 

for God the Father in Christ to reconcile the world 
to himself and to give to Christ his Son, " the hea- 
then for his inheritance and the uttermost parts of 
the earth for his possession." These wonders of 
God's working, I have witnessed with you and 
pointed out to you " the signs of the times," as God 
has revealed them before us by his providence in the 
light of his word, and you have read of them in the 
sources of knowledge he has brought to you for that 
purpose. And how often during the time of my 
watchful care over your souls, have you been ready 
to exclaim in your social scenes with your compan- 
ions in the kingdom of Christ, " What hath God 
wrought!" What wonders is he still working! 
and what still greater wonders will he hereafter 
work to glorify his name and honor Christ in the 
redemption of sinners. 

As one of the precious fruits of the revival of 
Christian benevolence amongst us in the years 1816 
and 1817, that house for an academic school and 
various other uses of the highest importance to the 
families of this people was planned and built, and 
has under God's providence proved a source of ines- 
timably precious blessings to us for the training of 
our youth in useful literature and science, for our 
happy preparations for singing to edification, and 
comfort for those concerned in our songs of praise 
in the house of God ; and a place where innumera- 
ble blessings from God have descended upon us m 
the religious meetings which in a happy variety of 
forms have been enjoyed there for thirty-six years 
past. 



115 

The changes which I have witnessed and expe- 
rienced amongst you during fifty years past, liave 
been very many, and some of them very great. 
Changes all under God's providence by his goodness, 
grace, justice, mercy, power and wisdom, by his 
word, and by his Holy Spirit. What changes in his 
church ! and this society ! in your characters, in 
your conditions and in your prospects ! what changes 
in your numbers, in your ages, in your earthly pos- 
sessions, in your earthly homes ! in the individuals 
that compose your daily family circles, in the con- 
struction and furniture of your dwellings, in the 
comforts of your apparel, in the comforts of your 
means of traveling in summer and in winter ! What 
changes have you enjoyed amongst your flocks and 
herds, in your gardens, and your fruit trees and your 
fields ; in the useful arts, in your skill, and in your 
instruments of labor, and in many other things, 
which are means of comfort to you at home and 
abroad. What changes has God wrought for us 
during these years by his wise and kind providence, 
by our instrumentality in the construction, the con- 
veniences and comforts of this sacred house in sum- 
mer and winter, for our public worship and service 
of him, for the honor of his great name ! What 
changes has he wrought amongst us in our social 
scenes in public, and in private, at home and abroad, 
by leading us to the practice of habitual abstinence 
from the use of strong drink as a beverage ! And 
what increase of knowledge of himself, of his works, 
and his word, has he wrought by his own appointed 
means ! What an increase of comforts and conven- 



116 

iences hath God wrought by his teaching of mankind 
during these years, in means of traveling and of 
the conveyance of the various productions of the 
earth, the fruits of human labor and skill ; of mate- 
rials for building of every kind ; of machinery for 
every useful purpose. And what wonderful im- 
provements have, by the agency of God, by his ap- 
pointed means in the preparation and transmission 
of manuscript and printed instructions in every de- , 
partment of knowledge, been brought into use. 
Fifty years ago, six miles an hour was considered 
great speed for the transmission of messages. But 
now intelligence is cenveyed by the rapidity of light- 
ning, by the skill which God has given to man, in 
these things. But the most important changes 
which have been witnessed amongst us have been 
produced by the sins of mankind which have hard- 
ened their hearts against God, and shut their souls 
out of heaven ; by the Holy Spirit's influence mak- 
ing sinners willing to love God, and drawing their 
hearts to forsake their sins and consecrate themselves 
joyfully forever to the service of God ; by the death 
of Christians, removing them from earthly stations 
of great imperfection in knowledge, in holiness and 
happiness, to the perfection of all those among the 
" spirits of just men made perfect," in the glories of 
heaven, and by the death of sinners unreconciled to 
God, removing them from all the privileges of a state 
of probation, from all hope of good, to the regions of 
endless despair and anguish ! Considering these 
things which have been witnessed amongst us, dur- 
ing the time hitherto of my watching over you, my 



117 

beloved brethren and friends, how can we refrain 
from exclaiming amidst manifold emotions of unut- 
terable joy and grief, anticipating the scenes of the 
judgment day, " What hath God wrought ! " 

The gracious enlightening and sanctifying influ- 
ence of the Holy Spirit, operating by the instrumen- 
tality of the word of God, creating the hearts of sin- 
ful men new in Christ Jesus, are the causes which 
perpetuate and the causes which increase the church 
of God in this sinful world. God is in Christ recon- 
ciling the world unto Himself. " He is constantly 
in some part or other of His visible church carrying 
on this work of reconciling sinners." Though He 
reconciles more sinners in a given time and in a 
given place than in others, it is God's prerogative, 
as a righteous and holy Sovereign, to reconcile sin- 
ners to Him when and where He pleases. But He 
has been pleased to bless His church in all past ages 
of it, with seasons of refreshing, which we properly 
call revivals. Of these I have noticed, in my records 
during my ministry among you, eleven. These, 
like all others of the like kind, have been seasons 
when the children of God are moved by His spirit to 
pray more consistently and fervently than is common 
with them, and when He influences sinners to think 
on their ways, with godly sorrow for sin, and with 
humble faith in Ciirist sincerely devote themselves 
to His service forever. With the blessing of God, I 
have enjoyed these seasons ; and my heart is still re- 
freshed when I remember them, in my hours of re- 
tirement. During such seasons, I hope that myself 
and my beloved wife, almost sixty years ago, began 



118 

to love and serve our Heavenly Master, and during 
such seasons, within thirty-five years past, I hope all 
my children began to love Christ, as the Saviour of 
sinners, with love which will never cease, yea, and 
that I shall meet hundreds more of souls of my pas- 
toral charge who began to love Christ in these sea- 
sons of refreshing, who by the redeeming love of 
God in Christ, will give up their account with joy 
with me at the final judgment day. 

There is one more season of the special revival of 
religion amongst the people of my pastoral charge, 
which for certain reasons I wish to mention and 
somewhat particularly describe. It is that which 
began in the summer, and progressed in the fall, and 
was continued through the winter of 1831 and 32, 
and was accompanied in some part of its progress 
with extraordinary means, that is with a season of 
four or five days in succession of daily preaching of 
the gospel. Such measures were customary in the 
churches in this region at that time. That season 
took place in the last week in October, 1831. I kept 
a particular journal of the scenes of that revival, of 
my own public and private labors ^ and of the labors of 
the many others who came professedly to help me. 
But the wearing and fatiguing influences of my labors 
during that season, upon my body, and my mind, 
and my heart, I never attempted adequately to des- 
cribe, but am relieved from the attempt by leaving 
them to be described as He shall see fit, at the great 
and last judgment day, by the omniscent Judge. 

I observed the effects of the spirit of prayer upon 
some of the people of God, for the salvation of sin- 



119 

ners in the summer and autumn of that year, and 
the people of God enjoyed the comfort of hoping that 
six or seven sinners had become reconciled to God, 
among whom was one of my own children, before 
the last week in October, when the extraordinary 
measures were introduced among us. 

I never have heard of but one instance of hopeful 
conversion during that week of greatly increased 
means. 

After these scenes I proceeded, with the help of 
God, with my pastoral duties on the Lord's days and 
on other days, preaching and teaching both publicly 
and from house to house, with very little help of 
preaching from others, for almost three months, till 
the 22d day of January, 1832, when Mr. Barrows 
came to assist me. Up to this time there were prob- 
ably among us a little over fifty hopeful conversions, 
and from this time forward till the close of this revi- 
val, in the next summer, there were added to these 
probably between forty and fifty more, and from this 
harvest season there were almost eighty added to 
this church. God has so wrought upon the hearts 
of sinners amongst us in reconciling them to him- 
self, that there has seldom a year past during these 
fifty, when there has not been one or more born hope- 
fully into his spiritual kingdom here. 

But it is proper that I mention the fundamental 
doctrines which God has helped me to teach from 
His word during the past time of my watchmanship 
here, which He has been pleased to bless for the 
redemption of sinners and their advancement in ho- 
liness. 



120 

I have taught the existence and infinite perfection of 
one only living and true God, the Creator, Sovereign 
Ruler, Supreme Judge of the world, rightful propri- 
etor and disposer of all creatures and things, and of 
each individual, as the foundation of all true relig- 
ion. And that the book which we, by God's teach- 
ings, call the Holy Scriptures, contains a perfect sys- 
tem of truth, all sufficient for mankind in their state 
of probation in this world, able to make wise unto 
salvation, through faith which is in Christ Jesus, 
all who heartily believe and obey them ; affording 
all needed profit for doctrhie, for reproof, for correc- 
tion, for instruction in righteousness, and to render 
the subjects of God's forgiving love in Christ perfect 
and thoroughly furnished unto all good works. 
That this sacred book teaches that the only living 
and true God exists in three persons who are called 
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, existing so 
distinctly that the Son speaking himself, says to the 
Father, " I thank Thee, Father, Lord of heaven 
and earth, that Thou hast hid these things from the 
wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes , 
even so, Father, for so it seemeth good in thy sight." 
And speaking of the Holy Spirit, Christ says, " When 
He, the Spirit of Truth shall come, He shall guide 
you into all Truth ; He shall glorify me, for He 
shall receive of mine and shall shew it unto you." 
Each of these persons in the Trinity is represented 
as acting separately for himself : "As they ministered 
to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, sepa- 
rate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto 
I have called them." And yet Paul says that he 



121 

was called by Jesus Christ to the work of the minis- 
try. Thus the three persons in the Trinity act inde- 
pendently of each other, but always in perfect har- 
mony, always as divine ; at other times they act to- 
gether, communicating the same blessings at the 
same time, and yet always act as one supreme, per- 
fect God. I have taught you also, from the Holy 
Scriptures, the character of man, — that man at his 
first creation was holy and happy, in the service and 
enjoyment of God. 

And that very soon after his creation he fell from 
this holy and happy state and character, by volunta- 
rily transgressing the known, plain, just, good and 
perfect law of God, by the influence of Satan, a re- 
bellious angel ; and that by this sin was introduced, 
all the evils of death to the bodies and souls that 
ever have been or ever will be experienced by our 
race ; and that the natural fruit of voluntarily trans- 
gressing the law of God is death to all real happi- 
ness and death to all hope of happiness. 

But I have, by divine command, also, with joy un- 
speakable, taught you that God, the Father, " so 
loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, 
that whosoever believetli in Him should not perish 
but have everlasting life," and that at the time 
appointed. He actually bestowed this gift accor- 
ding to His promise, in the birth, life, preaching, 
miracles and sufferings and death, as the vicarious 
substitute for sinners of mankind, that He might 
make complete atonement for sin " so that God can 
be just and justify him that bclieveth in Jesus," and 
that on the third day after his death He rose from 
11 



122 

the dead, appeared for forty days amongst his disci- 
ples, setting the things of His kingdom in order ; 
and finally proclaiming His power in heaven and on 
earth, as mediator and as the only Redeemer of sin- 
ners, commissioned His apostles to go into all the 
world and preach the gospel to every creature, among 
all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Fa- 
ther, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, and teaching 
them to observe all things whatsoever He had com- 
manded them, closing His commission with this prom- 
ise : " Lo I am with you always, unto the end of the 
world." 

It is by virtue of this commission that I have 
preached the gospel of Christ unto you these fifty 
years, and that I preach it to you under these solem- 
nities to-day. I have felt authorized to offer salva- 
tion freely, in the name of Christ, to every one who 
came to hear me and to every one whom I met in 
public or private who will come to Christ; and to 
entreat all to be reconciled to God. And there is 
another doctrine which I have preached to you which 
is painfully true, that the nature of sin is such that 
when mankind are left to themselves they will not 
come to Christ that they might have life ; and that 
sinners, if left to themselves, will waste their w^hole 
life in sin, and fall, at death, under the just wrath 
of God where they will perish forever in their own 
moral corruption, and will justly bear the blame of 
their own destruction. 

I have taught you also, from the word of God, 
that He has published and is constantly carrying in- 
to execution His purpose of redeeming love for a 



123 

great multitude, which no man can number, of all 
nations, and people, and languages of our race, by 
the effectual influences of the Holy Spirit. He 
brings them as voluntarily and freely to renounce 
the love of sinning as they ever indulged it, and to 
bind themselves effectually and forever to His holy 
service and His love, and effectually provides that 
nothing in the universe shall ever separate one of 
them from this union to God in Christ. This change 
is called regeneration. I have taught you, from 
God's word, that every redeemed sinner is received 
into eternal favor with God in Christ, not for the 
merit of their own works, but only by faith in the 
perfect righteousness of Christ, which He has gra- 
ciously prepared for them and freely gives them 
for their justification ; and that God requires and 
receives, as the fruit of redeeming love, from every 
reconciled sinner, repentance, godly sorrow for every 
transgression of His holy law, as the proper evidence 
of the sincerity of his faith in the righteousness of 
Christ for his justification. 

The sanctification of sinners, whom Christ redeems, 
begins with the first holy exercise which they put 
forth, by the aid of the Holy Spirit, at the instant of 
their regeneration, and progresses through all the 
after scenes of their spiritual life on the earth, and 
is perfected as soon as the soul enters the heavenly 
state, at the death of the body. 

I liave set before you, from the word of God, the 
duty of all men every where to repent of their sins, 
in view of the day wliich he hath appointed in the 
which he will judge the world in righteousnes by 



124 

that man whom he hath ordained, whereof he hath 
given assurance to all men in that he hath raised 
him from the dead." And that is the day when I, 
as your spiritual watchman, and the souls which God 
hath committed to my pastoral care, to whom I have 
spoken the word of God, shall give up our account, 
either with joy or with grief. I have taught you 
that every one who believes on the Lord Jesus Christ 
with faith which works by love and purifies the 
heart, shall enjoy eternal life with him in heaven, 
and that every one who does not believe on him shall 
not see life, but that the wrath of God abide th on 
him. I have shown you, from the word of God, the 
duty of all men to become reconciled to God, and to 
bring themselves with humble dependence on his 
gracious help to love him and serve him as their 
righteous Lord and Sovereign forever — and that it is 
especially the duty of all sincere believers in Christ, 
as soon as they have had opportunity, properly to 
examine themselves, to appear publicly under the 
tokens of his appointment, as faithful witnesses for 
him and his gospel, always abounding in his work of 
seeking to win souls to him. And that it is the 
duty and privilege of those who are Christian pa- 
rents, to consecrate their children to God, and bind 
themselves publicly by his appointed tokens, to give 
them a faithful religious education, and to " bring 
them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord," 
showing themselves to be by grace the faithful chil- 
dren of faithful Abraham, of whom God says " see- 
ing that Abraham shall surely become a great and 
mighty nation and all the nations of the earth shall 



125 



be blessed in him, for I know him that he will com- 
mand his children and his household after him, and 
they shall keep the way of the Lord to do jus- 
tice and judgment, that the Lord may bring upon 
Abraham that which he hath spoken of him." And 
these blessings were promised to be bestowed upon 
Abraham, and upon his believing spiritual seed of 
both Israelites and of all other nations by the means 
of God's appointment in the faithful religious edu- 
cation of children in the family by the principles of 
the gospel ; for these were the great truths which 
were by God's appointment, to bless Abraham, and 
to bless his spiritual seed to the end of human fami- 
lies on the earth, according to the w^ords of Paul by 
the Holy Spirit, " And the Scripture foreseeing that 
God would justify the heathen through faith, preach- 
ed before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, in thee 
shall all the families of the earth be blessed, so then 
they which be of faith are blessed with faithful 
Abraham." And many of you, my brethren and 
friends, who are Christian parents and I hope myself 
and my beloved wife with you, have by the gracious 
help of God, brought up our children according to 
his command, in our faniilies, and have had the joy 
of seeing them walking in the truth, as I hope I 
have all mine, nine in number, in their childhood 
and early youth, and that for this rich grace we shall 
give up our account together with joy. Brotherly- 
love in the family of Christ, or the love of Chris- 
tians, as such, our Lord and Master teaches us to be 
an essential doctrine to be believed and practiced 

amongst his disciples. '' By this shall all men know 
11* 



126 

that ye are my disciples if ye have love one to 
another." Indeed, so important does Christ consider 
this, that he has most plainly taught us that accord- 
ing to this principle the whole race of man will be 
divided into two classes before the judgment-seat at 
the great and last day — see the proof of thi^ doctrine 
in Christ's own description of the scenes of the last 
judgment, in the 25th chapter of Matthew, when 
that decision of our whole race shall be made, then 
indeed shall all men know who are the disciples of 
Christ and who are not. 

There are other principles of truth which I have 
abundantly taught you, clearly comprehended in 
these and intimately blended with them, all of which 
it is not necessary that I should here explicitly men- 
tion. The principle of benevolence, or good will to 
all mankind, I will here mention. This is called in 
the New Testament Scriptures, charity, and it is 
called, also, " the bond of perfectness." This prin- 
ciple is fully taught by this command of God, and 
is binding on all mankind at all times. It is this : 
" Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." 

This command of God contains a bond of uni- 
versal love amongst ratio'nal creatures. It is the 
perfect obedience of the holy Angels to this which 
produces the perfect happiness of their society in the 
service of God and with each other. And this 
" bond of perfectness," is that which will produce 
the eternal peace and happiness amongst all redeem- 
ed sinners, and holy Angels. And it is their diso- 
bedience to this which produces all the social evils 



127 

which exist amongst sinful men and sinful angels, 
both in this world, and in the eternal world. 

I have also taught you, from the word of God, the 
nature and the importance of the institution of mar- 
riage ; of the visible church, and of civil government, 
which God hath established for the safety, the comfort 
and usefulness of mankind in his service, and the 
reconciliation of sinners to himself during their state 
of probation in this world. I have also taught you, 
from the word of God, and by my example, the obli- 
gations of all men, especially of those who possess the 
written word of God, to " remember the Sabbath 
day, to keep it holy." And to help you heartily and 
practically to observe this holy law of God, I have 
very often, repeated to you and to your children, 
in public and in private, from the word and the 
providence of God, the tokens of his high and 
pointed displeasure and wrath against those who 
profane the Sabbath day, and the expressions of his 
full and hearty favor to all who love and remember 
it and keep it holy according to his commandment. 

I have taught you these doctrines and the kind of 
doctrines combined with them, and proved them 
with the help of God, from his holy word, during 
these fifty years. I have preached them to you with 
plainness of speech in this sacred house, in your 
school-houses, and in your dwelling-houses, on the 
Lord's day, and on other days ; and I have taught 
them to you at your beds of sickness, at funerals, 
on wedding occasions, at pastoral visits from house 
to house, ancU at many other opportunities, when I 
have met you at my house and at your houses, and 



128 

in the highways and in the fields ; and often with 
tears and much entreaty, and prayed yon " in Christ's 
stead to be reconciled to God," And through all 
these scenes you have witnessed my frailties and 
many of my sins ; and I ask you to pity my frailties 
and forgive my sins, as I ought to yours, for Christ's 
sake, and hope I do. I have endeavored with the 
help of God, to teach you by my example, while I 
have preached to you, the doctrines and precepts of 
his word. Thus I have set before you my example 
as a father, a master of a family, as a neighbor, as a 
member of the visible church, and as a subject of 
civil government, and as a friend and as a man, 
teaching you by actions in harmony with the word 
of God, that I am heartily, practically, and happily 
trying the way which I have taught you as the right 
way to heaven. 

It has pleased God to give me remarkably com- 
fortable health since my childhood. I have been 
able every day to rise from my bed, put on my 
clothes, walk about and attend to some active, useful 
labor with my hands and my mind. And for forty 
years after I begvin my ministry among you, I 
think I was not unable by sickness for more than 
three Sabbaths to attend public worship, nor unable 
to preach during these forty years, more than six 
Sabbaths. And in not more than four or five instan- 
ces during these years, was I unable by sickness, to 
go and visit the sick, or attend a funeral when I was 
requested to do so. I say these things not to praise 
myself, but to praise God for his loving kindness 



129 

which helps me to say them, and helped me to enjoy 
the blessings of which I have here spoken. 

But whilst it has pleased God to spare my health 
so remarkably, and to restore it often when partially 
taken away for a short time, he has called me to 
witness many deaths within the limits of this society. 
During my ministry I have kept an account of all 
the deaths within the limits of this society, which 
came to my knowledge, and the number that I have 
recorded amounts to twelve hundred and one. These 
have been, of various ages, from one hundred and 
one years, to only a few hours. These have been 
of a great variety of characters and conditions, in 
this life, but • God has fixed each of them at death 
in an eternal state either of glory and joy or of woe 
and despair. For twenty years from the beginning 
of my ministry, I was called to attend the funerals 
of almost all who died here, and the greatest part 
almost every year since that time. A precious num- 
ber of these we have committed to their graves with 
a firm and good hope through grace that they have 
gone to be with Christ in eternal glory and joy. 
Others we have committed to their graves amidst 
distressing doubts concerning their eternal state. 
But we shall meet all these at the judgment-seat of 
Christ, and witness them giving up their account 
either with joy or with grief with all the rest of the 
human race. 

Thus we see how the scenes of time are most inti- 
mately connected with the scenes of eternity ; and 
how necessary it is that we become reconciled to 
God here, and by a life of holiness whicli God will 



130 

approve, that we may be at peace with him at death, 
and meet him with joy in the scenes of the world to 
come. It is a source of unspeakable joy to me as I 
am drawing daily near to the eternal world, that I 
have enjoyed with you who love Christ, the sight of 
a goodly number, some hundreds I hope, and many 
of you who hear me to-day among them, while many 
others of them have gone with other redeemed sin- 
ners, to be with Christ, abandoning the love of the 
world as their portion, and with godly sincerity bind- 
ing themselves to be the Lord's, '' growing in grace," 
and shining in works of righteousness and Christian 
benevolence as lights in the world. 

But alas, my brethren and friends, our joy is min- 
gled with grief. For we have seen some of whom 
we are afraid that labor has been bestowed upon 
them in vain ; who have appeared by profession, on 
the Lord's side, and at times, by their apparent blos- 
soms, they have promised some good^ fruit ; but 
afterwards wholly disappointed our hopes, by plainly 
showing that they had only " a name to live while 
really they were dead." 

And some others in the congregation we see, who 
give no evidence that their hearts are reconciled 
to God, and yet are exposed every day to death, and 
to all the sufferings of God's displeasure, to his just 
and eternal wrath. 

Thus, my brethren and friends, for fifty years, I 
have habitually taught you the doctrines of Jesus 
Christ, and him crucified. By the preaching of the 
gospel in thousands of discourses, by the adminis- 
tration of the Lord's Supper, almost three hundred 



131 

times, and by the administration of baptism to six 
hundred and eighty-eight siibjeets ; one hundred 
and three adults and five hundred and eighty-five 
children. I have set before you the distinguishing 
doctrine of the religion of Christ, that the shedding 
of his blood once for all hath obtained the remission 
of sins for all the multitudes of the " churcli of God 
which he hath purchased with his own blood." 
How often, by signs of his own appointment, hath 
" Jesus Christ been evidently set forth crucified 
among you." How aggravated will be the suffer- 
ings of those who rememljer for eternal ages that 
they have perished in their sins from the midst of 
the ordinances of God, because they would not 
" come to Christ that they might have life ! " 

During my ministry among you for these fifty 
years past, I have officiated to join in the bonds of 
the marriage covenant, five hundred . and twenty- 
three couple ; four of these were of my own chil- 
dren. This institution of God, under his provi- 
dence, is the source of all the useful, kind, and ten- 
der affections amongst our race, and is the founda- 
tion of all the useful enterprises among mankind in 
this world, and comprehends under its influence all 
that vast system of means by which sinners are 
reconciled to God, and the church is prepared for 
heaven. 

And while I have watched over your souls, under 
the watchman of Israel, as one who must give ac- 
count, you have, according to written agreement and 
often beyond that, as you have seen the need of my 
numerous family, you have ministered of your free 



132 

will offerings to supply our necessities and furnish 
us with many precious comforts to relieve my anxi- 
eties and in various ways to help me in my duties to 
your own souls, and thus, and by many other tokens, 
you have manifested your high esteem and love to 
me for my work's sake. 

And for all your kindness and all the other kind- 
ness of God to me and my family, through these 
many years which we have experienced amongst you, 
I joyfully take this opportunity to express my thanks 
to you, and above all, to God, who, for Christ's sake 
hath so extensively blessed us together in the enjoy- 
ment of the privileges of the gospel. 

It is proper that I should state, on this occasion, 
that it will be one hundred years on the first day of 
next May, since this church was organized, and its 
first pastor, Rev. Thomas Potwine, was ordained ; 
and that I am the second pastor of this church. Mr. 
Potwine officiated as sole pastor here, forty-eight 
years, six months and a half, and my ordination 
took place just one year and three months after his 
death ; and I officiated as sole pastor of this church 
until seven months of the forty-fifth year of my min- 
istry had passed away, when an associate pastor, 
Rev. Samuel J. Andrews, was ordained here in 
September, 1848. Since that time I have preached, 
administered the sacraments, joined persons in mar- 
riage, visited the sick and officiated at funerals, made* 
pastoral visits and performed other duties belonging 
to a minister of tlie gospel, at home and abroad, as 
I have been requested and as I have had strength 
given me, so that having obtained help of God I 



133 

continue until this time, testifying among you, my 
beloved brethren and friends, the things of the king- 
dom of God." When 1 began my ministry among 
you, the deacons of this church were two men in 
advanced years. Deacon James Harper and Deacon 
Oliver Barber. Deacon Harper died in 1808 at the 
age of eighty-five years, and Deacon Barber died at 
the age of eighty-four, in 1820. Deacon Noah Allen 
was ordained to this office in 1809, and died in 1824, 
sixty-seven years of age. Deacon Daniel Richard- 
son was ordained in 1818 and removed from this 
state in 1829 and died in 1847, between sixty and 
seventy years. Deacon Ira A¥ells was ordained to 
the office of Deacon among us in 1823. Deacon 
Anson Bissell was ordained to this office in 1825, 
and removed his relationship from us to the third 
church in East Windsor in 1832. Deacon Erastus 
Buckland was set apart to his office in the church in 
1830 and died in 1848. Deacon Azel S. Roe was 
ordained to that office among you in 1833. Thus I 
have been personally acquainted and taken aftection- 
ate counsel with eight deacons in this church during 
my ministry among you, who have ministered during 
the fifty years past, the symbols of Christ's body and 
blood to the members of the church and ministered 
to the wants of the poor members, all but three of 
whom. Deacon Bissell, now in Ohio, and the two 
who yet live among us, have, we joyfully hope, gone 
to be with Christ and " the spirits of just men made 
perfect" in the glorious mansions prepared for them 
in His Father's house. 

Thus, my beloved brethren and friends, with the 
12 



134 

help of God, I have exercised my care over you, 
watching to warn you of dangers and to teach you 
the way of eternal safety, amidst the innumerable 
dangers, snares, temptations and sins of this 
changing, rebellious, dying world. Some of you 
have lived fifty years with me amidst the privileges 
of the gospel, and have during these years experi- 
enced the joyful beginning and the sure and happy 
progress in your souls of the work of God's redeem- 
ing love ; and you will find in your happy experi- 
ence of His care over you, that all things that you 
experience and witness by His gracious appointment 
" work together for your good " and will ripen you 
for the '' inheritance of the saints in light." 

But who will write and preach fifty years from 
this time, the history of the effects of the gospel 
amongst the members of this church and of the re- 
ligious society connected with it; and if it should 
be written and preached then, who of this assembly 
here to-day will be present then and hear it ? 

I came among you, in the beginning of my care 
for your spiritual welfare, in the vigor and strength 
of youth, in the twenty-sixth year of my life. You 
have seen me amidst labors and cares and much so- 
licitude for the salvation of your souls, strengthened 
" by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ," ascending 
to my meridian life among you. Since that, amidst 
cares and labors more and more weighty and com- 
plicated, you have seen me declining toward the 
hour of my setting sun, attended with the signs of 
old age, and though in my seventy-sixth year, still 



135 

blessed by the mercy and loving kindness of the 
God of our fathers with very comfortable degrees of 
health of body and vigor of mind. Still I find that 
my strength of body, at my present age, is materially 
different from that which I possessed even six years 
ago, and that now, much oftener than ten years ago, 
I have to say, in view of scenes of bodily exercise, 
" the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak." But 
we all, whether young or old, daily live and move 
in the scenes of the world, amid changing, decaying, 
dying men. 

The word and the providence of God, with migh- 
ty emphasis, call us to look forward to death and 
the final judgment and eternal scenes as things which 
we must inevitably experience, and for which we are 
bound, by infinitely precious obligations, to be hap- 
pily prepared. Let us now, my brethren, as we are 
closing this review of the past fifty years, seeking to 
be guided by the word and spirit of God, in our im- 
agination look forward to the last day of time. The 
great work of reconciling sinners to God, by the me- 
diation of Christ, is done ; all the dead, small and 
great, stand before God, and all that are alive on the 
earth when this last day is ushered in, are changed, 
and all the race of man is arrayed before Him to re- 
ceive their allotment for eternal ages. The day of 
the revelation of the righteous judgment of God is 
come. '' The Son of Man has come in his glory as 
Judge of all the earth." " He sits upon the throne 
of his glory" to establish the results of His admin- 
istration as mediator. He separates the vast multi- 
tude into two classes, the righteous and the wicked. 



136 

The righteous are on His right hand and the wicked 
on His left. "And the King says to them on His 
right hand, come ye blessed of my Father, inherit 
the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation 
of the world." "And to those on the left, depart, 
ye cursed, into everlasting fire prepared for the devil 
and his angels. And these shall go away into ever- 
lasting punishment, and the righteous into life eter- 
nal." Dear brethren and friends, are we now com- 
forted with a " good hope through grace," that we 
shall stand with joy as the children of the kingdom, 
at that day, on the right hand of our Judge ? 

May God grant to each of us all the needful grace 
to be so reconciled to Him in time that we shall 
spend eternity with joy, in His presence, with tlie in- 
numerable company of those " who have washed 
their robes and made them white in the blood of the 
Lamb." Amen. 



r 



tA"0 



CONGRESS 




